Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks Agree to Reported 3-Year, $186M Max Contract Extension

The Milwaukee Bucks continue to do everything they can to make sure their franchise cornerstone doesn't head elsewhere.

Milwaukee and Giannis Antetokounmpo agreed to a new three-year, $186 million million contract extension on Monday, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal includes a player option for the 2027-28 season, per Wojnarowski.

Antetokounmpo took to social media to celebrate the extension:

His previous deal ran through the 2024-25 season with a $51.9 million player option for the 2025-26 campaign. However, his long-term status with the team was placed under the spotlight after the top-seeded Bucks' shocking first-round loss to the Miami Heat in the 2023 playoffs.

"I think it is unlikely Giannis extends his contract this summer," ESPN's Brian Windhorst said at the time. ... "They are a late-stage contender with a superstar in his 20s, and there are teams in this league watching very closely to see what happens with the Bucks this summer."

That the comments came heading into an offseason in which the Bucks could have had up to 11 free agents—including Khris Middleton (player option) and Brook Lopez, depending on how things played out—made them all the more notable.

Milwaukee notably re-signed both Middleton and Lopez to multiyear deals.

Head coach Mike Budenholzer's job security was also under scrutiny after the loss to Miami in which he had no answer for Jimmy Butler and didn't use a timeout at the end of regulation or overtime in the final defeat in Game 5.

Milwaukee decided to fire him following the loss.

Perhaps the most noteworthy development came when Antetokounmpo said that if there's "a better situation for me to win the Larry O'Brien I have to take that better situation" while speaking on the 48 Minutes podcast in September 2023:

The equation changed shortly after those comments, as the Bucks responded by acquiring seven-time All-Star Damian Lillard. Lillard, like Antetokounmpo, is a member of the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team and one of the best players of his generation.

It wasn't difficult to see the move as an indication to Antetokounmpo that Milwaukee would do what was necessary to continue competing for titles with him leading the way.

And now it secured his long-term future with this deal.

That is welcome news for the Bucks since he is well on his way to becoming one of the best players in the history of the game with a resume that includes a championship, two MVPs, seven All-NBA selections, seven All-Star nods, five All-Defensive selections, an NBA Finals MVP and a Defensive Player of the Year.

He cemented his status as a Milwaukee legend regardless of how the rest of his on-court career plays out when he finished the closeout win over the Phoenix Suns in Game 6 of the 2021 NBA Finals with 50 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks and only added to his legacy with another excellent performance this past season.

Antetokounmpo averaged a career-best 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game while shooting 55.3 percent from the field in 2022-23.

It wasn't enough to capture his third MVP, but he is one of the few players in the league who can take over a game offensively and defensively and figures to maintain that status for the foreseeable future since he is in the middle of his prime at 28 years old.

Milwaukee made sure he will be doing that with the only NBA team he has ever known for years to come with this new deal.