{"id":582308,"date":"2026-04-13T20:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/582308\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T20:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:57:09","slug":"giannis-antetokounmpo-doesnt-rule-out-extension-with-bucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/582308\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Antetokounmpo Doesn’t Rule Out Extension With Bucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the Bucks\u2018 season officially over, the focus can fully turn toward Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>\u2018s future, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN<\/a>. Big changes appear to be on the horizon in Milwaukee, starting with Doc Rivers\u2019 revelation Sunday night that he won\u2019t be returning<\/a> as head coach. An Antetokounmpo trade is also expected at some point during the offseason, but nothing is set in stone.<\/p>\n

\"\"Antetokounmpo will become eligible on October 1 to sign a four-year, maximum-salary extension, which provides a powerful financial incentive to extend his time with the Bucks. He will earn $58.5MM next season and holds a $62.8MM player option for 2027\/28, enabling him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, so the odds of a trade will increase dramatically if he informs the organization that he won\u2019t accept an extension.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo didn\u2019t provide much clarity about his future in a session with reporters Sunday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a very good question,\u201d he replied when asked if he has already played his last game in a Milwaukee uniform. \u201cI don\u2019t know. It\u2019s not up to me. We\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo has been open about his desire to win another championship and didn\u2019t hide his frustration with the Bucks\u2019 32-50 campaign, Bontemps adds. He stated that the team is as far away from title contention as it\u2019s been at any point in his 13-year career and addressed communication issues that have clouded the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like sometimes people just don\u2019t listen,\u201d he said. \u201cThey listen to the sources. The main source is me. It is what it is. So again, do not disturb on my phone, go about my day, improve, and come back better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo has been in a public dispute with the team over whether he was healthy enough to return from a\u00a0left knee hyperextension and bone bruise that he suffered on March 15. The NBA launched an investigation<\/a> into the disagreement, as Antetokounmpo insisted that he wanted to play again, while the Bucks contend he never fully healed and wasn\u2019t being totally sincere in his public statements.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo told reporters on Sunday that he had \u201czero control\u201d over the situation, but emphasized that he did everything the team asked him to, including participating in three-on-three scrimmages \u201cmultiple times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know who said that, who came up with that, but that\u2019s disrespectful towards what I\u2019ve done for this team and the way I carry myself my whole career, pretty much,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I did what I was supposed to do. I wasn\u2019t able to come on the court now. Who has that say? It probably comes from my boss, probably comes from the members of the front office or the owners. So, I thought I had control, kind of like, \u2018OK, if I\u2019m healthy, I\u2019m going to play.\u2019 But this shows me that not just me, just players in general, don\u2019t have no control. We got to do what we\u2019ve been told. So, to answer your question, no. I didn\u2019t feel like I had control.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview<\/a> last month, team co-owner Wes Edens indicated that Antetokounmpo will either be extended or traded during the offseason. On Sunday, Antetokounmpo didn\u2019t dismiss the idea of accepting the extension, pointing out that the decision is months away and saying he\u2019ll \u201ctry to make the best decision for me and my family.\u201d But he also stressed that the team is very far away from where he expected it to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think we\u2019re going to be in this position last year, so I don\u2019t know what position we\u2019re going to be next year,\u201d he added. \u201cSo, if everything goes well, hopefully, the Bucks want me here, why not? But if they don\u2019t? OK.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Bucks\u2018 season officially over, the focus can fully turn toward Giannis Antetokounmpo\u2018s future, writes Tim Bontemps…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[359,99],"class_list":["post-582308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}