‘I’m just going to focus on basketball’: Everyone wants to talk contract – except Giannis
Giannis #Giannis
Look forward. Move ahead. Get better.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has tended to keep things simple in his career, trying his best to put a spotlight on teammates and downplay his own accomplishments with the caveat he can always improve. Yet on Wednesday afternoon, the two-time reigning league most valuable player couldn’t help but talk about himself.
He is the center of the NBA universe and will continue to be as the city of Milwaukee, the Bucks and every other NBA team with designs on No. 34 jersey sales in their colors await his decision to sign the designated veteran player exemption (commonly known as a supermax extension) by Dec. 21 or not.
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And yet …
“Right now I’m not focusing on that,” the 26-year-old said of his thought process. “I know my agent, Alex (Saratsis), and (general manager) Jon Horst and the Bucks ownership are focusing on those discussions. I’m just trying to focus on myself and how I can get better, how I can help my teammates be better, how I can be ready Saturday to play our first preseason game.”
In his first appearance speaking with American media since accepting his second straight Most Valuable Player Award in mid-September, Antetokounmpo acknowledged the interest in his decision and the ripple effects it will cause, but he largely pushed off the topic during his 15-minute session.
“I trust my agent, I trust Jon Horst and the ownership and they’re taking care of those discussions,” he said. “I’m just going to focus on basketball. I know this is really, really big for the city of the Milwaukee and for the NBA world and the media world and all that, but I’ve been a private person. Whenever… I decide something or I sign a contract you guys probably gonna know before I know. So, yeah, I’ll appreciate that from now on we try not to talk as much about that and just focus on basketball. Because the answer is still going to be the same.”
When asked if he would take the entire time up until the Dec. 21 deadline to make a decision, Antetokounmpo again deferred to his agent and the Bucks front office coming together.
Antetokounmpo had a meeting with Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry in September about the team’s dedication to building a championship roster, and Horst swung hard this offseason to do so by acquiring guard Jrue Holiday from New Orleans for Eric Bledsoe, George Hill and a bevy of first-round draft picks.
The team also bolstered its bench with shooter Bryn Forbes, point guard D.J Augustin and versatile defenders in Torrey Craig and Bobby Portis. The efforts pushed the Bucks to into the league’s hard cap, but Antetokounmpo disputed any idea that such moves were a mandate on his part.
“First of all, I don’t know where you guys are getting this information from that I had a conversation with Marc and talked to him about the team getting better,” Antetokounmpo said. “I never said that.
“At the end of the day, the team is going to take care of what they’re going to do off the court and trying to improve this team as much as possible because that’s what they’ve been doing since day one, since the day I go there. We started from 15 wins. We had the best regular season team the past two years so that shows you that the team and the front office care about improving the team every single year and they’ve been doing it so far.
“Me, on the court, I’m going to try to improve myself individually and then try to help my teammates improve, also.”
One player that is not is Milwaukee is swingman Bogdan Bogdanović, as a reported sign-and-trade fell through, leading to a league investigation for tampering and the 28-year-old scorer signing in Atlanta.
“I woke up with the trade, read about it like you guys and after that, obviously, I tried not to focus on that much and focusing on how I can get better and welcome every new teammate that comes to Milwaukee,” Antetokounmpo said. As you guys know, it didn’t (go) through. Now we have… Holiday, Bobby Portis, Torrey Craig, Bryn Forbes, all these guys who came to the team. These are the guys we have. These are great basketball players we’re going to play with and I’m happy to move forward with these guys.”
The preseason begins on Saturday at Fiserv Forum against the Dallas Mavericks, and the Bucks open the regular season Dec. 23 in Boston. There is much for Antetokounmpo to look forward to, and decide on, but time is of the essence as the deadline to sign the extension is in less than two weeks.
For a player who always looks for what’s next, even he knows he can’t escape the decision that sits in front of him.
“What’s on my mind is playing basketball and improving every day,” he said. “That’s what’s going to always be on my mind. That’s what I’ve been doing since Day 1 and it’s never going to change. I can guarantee you that. Year 8 or Year 25 it’s not going to change.”
“Obviously it’s a big decision as I said earlier, but I just try to focus on what I can do. This is not in my hands. Their discussion is between my agent, Jon Horst, the Bucks ownership and they’re taking care of that. I cannot; I’m not trying to speed up the process, I’m not trying to be involved in that.
“Obviously it’s something that stresses every player out. And as you said, it’s on my mind but It’s not on my mind. I try to put it out of my mind. And you’re the guys asking me these questions all the time so you guys put it back on my mind, but as I said, they’re going to handle those discussion I’m going to handle what I’ve got to do on the court and everything is going to be good.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ‘I’m just going to focus on basketball’: Everyone wants to talk contract – except Giannis