Milwaukee Bucks To Extend Giannis Antetokounmpo As Designated Player?

Of course, the Milwaukee Bucks are going to extend Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s contract this summer, but the way in which they do so still requires some close attention.

As most Milwaukee Bucks fans have likely heard by now, the team’s young star Giannis Antetokounmpo is eligible to sign his first contract extension as a professional this summer.

Referred to as an early extension, Antetokounmpo’s rookie scale contract doesn’t actually expire until the end of the 2016-17 season, and so, a new contract wouldn’t officially kick in until 2017-18.

Still, it’s common practice for NBA teams to tie up their most prized assets in advance of their free agency, just as Milwaukee did with John Henson last summer.

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Back in the present, there’s no debate over whether Antetokounmpo is deserving of his extension. He has established himself as one of the very best young players in the entire league, he’s growing into the face of the franchise in Milwaukee, and as of yet, there’s no apparent ceiling for where his abilities can take him.

It’s a matter of when, not if, Antetokounmpo will be extended. With his burgeoning star and a future that could seem him positioned among the league’s elite talents, it’s not even a debate over whether he’s worthy of a max contract.

Instead, the big question centers around how many years Antetokounmpo should be extended for and the various complex questions the collective bargaining agreement creates as a result.

If the Bucks wish to sign Antetokounmpo to a max level contract they have the choice of doing so for four or five seasons. The idea of locking down your best young player for five seasons seems to make the most sense, but a five-year extension carries some other implications.

A five-year contract would see Antetokounmpo assigned the tag of Milwaukee’s “designated player”, a feature which was added to the NBA landscape during the most recent CBA.

The “designated player” provision is defined by the following criteria in the NBA’s summary of the 2011 CBA:

"(a) A “Designated Player” Rookie Scale Extension is an extension that provides for five new years (6 total years including the year remaining on the Rookie Scale Contract when the extension is signed).(b) The extension must provide for the maximum salary, which for this purpose means that the extension must provide: (i) a first-year salary of at least 25% of the Salary Cap (can be higher if player meets criteria set forth in Section I.Q.4. below but it is not required to be higher); and (ii) full 7.5% annual increases for each season following the first season of the extended term.(c) A team may not, at any point in time, in respect of any current or future Salary Cap Year, have Salary included in its Team Salary for more than one Designated Player that was signed by the team and more than one Designated Player that was acquired by the team by assignment"

In simple terms, the Bucks can only have one player on their roster at a time who signed as a designated player. For many teams this isn’t a major issue as they only have one player who seems like a standout, but in Milwaukee’s case they also have to consider an upcoming extension for Jabari Parker.

With extra financial rewards attached, designated player carries a certain weight with players, and is deemed to be the ultimate endorsement of an organization’s confidence in a player’s ability. It’s a status that players take pride in carrying.

Kevin Love‘s relationship with Minnesota is rumored to have started to sour when they refused to make him their designated player, and that’s just one example of the care that has to be taken in these decisions.

There’s no question that Jabari Parker would love the chance to carry that title and receive the exceptional riches that come with it, but for Milwaukee’s future, it’s probably for the best that Giannis will be the recipient.

That isn’t a statement based purely on the fact that Antetokounmpo is clearly more advanced in his development process, but also a reflection on the importance of taking advantage of the potential breaks that fall your way in the light of the NBA’s upward trending salary cap, and timing your expiring dates for the future in case it’s necessary to add more players or to break the team up.

Even if it’s signed this summer, Antetokounmpo’s extension will be measured at the rate of next year’s salary cap as that is when it will officially come into effect.

The cap has already taken a larger than anticipated jump to a projected $94 million for this summer, but with current estimates pencilling next year’s figure in at $107 million that jump is only set to get steeper.

As it is, Antetokounmpo’s max is going to increase in value between this year and next, just thanks to the forces at play in the market.

If he was to sign a five-year max as a designated player, based on current projections, Giannis would be set to earn in the region of $144.9 million over the course of his contract. That would start at $25.2 million in the first year and rise with a 7.5 percent increase year on year.

Giannis’ earnings might not necessarily even be capped at that point though. In signing a five year max contract, the “Rose Rule” could also come into play for the Greek Freak.

Named after the salary bump received by Derrick Rose following his MVP season, designated players can see their salary jump from the standard 25 percent of the cap max to a 30 percent of the cap max which is usually reserved for players with seven to nine years experience, assuming they meet certain criteria.

If by the time the contract kicks in a player has made two appearances on either the All-NBA First, Second or Third team, started in two All-Star games, or been named as the MVP,  they are then eligible for a deal at the higher rate.

With the first two now out of the question for Giannis, only an unlikely MVP season next year would earn him the higher rate.

Regardless, Giannis is about to be a very rich man.

For Parker, things could be a little bit different. At the moment projections for the cap in the year of his extension suggest a slight drop off to $105 million. That would see Parker’s four and five-year max options come in marginally cheaper than what Giannis is expected to receive.

Saying that, with plenty of time still to pass between now and then and the gap so minimal at present, there’s no reason to suggest that the 2018-19 figure couldn’t rise to become a slight increase by that time either.

Based off of the current projections, a four-year max deal for Parker (if the Bucks decided he was worthy of it) would fall in the region of $110 million, starting out at $24.7 million in year one.

Working off of the assumption that Giannis gets tied in on a five-year deal and Jabari is secured for four more years after his rookie deal, it gives Milwaukee a definitive timeline for progress and decisions on this young group.

Both young players would be scheduled to hit free agency at the end of the 2021-22 season, and would be 27 years old. The Bucks would hope to be a championship team or a contender on the verge of that goal at that point, and if they weren’t close, it would likely be time to move on.

Parker may feel hard done by, but in terms of long term planning there are definite advantages to Antetokounmpo edging him in the designated player stakes.

Next: Milwaukee Bucks Potential D-League Locations Narrowed Down

Antetokounmpo is eligible for an early extension from July 8 to October 31 this year, and it will be a surprise to most looking on if the Bucks don’t try to tie things up with him as soon as they can.