Milwaukee Bucks: Grades for Eric Bledsoe’s four-year, $70 million extension

Role

In this department, there’s little doubt created by Bledsoe’s extension. The Alabama native will be the Bucks’ starting point guard for the foreseeable future.

Beyond that, though, it also cements Milwaukee’s need for Bledsoe to perform as one of their most consistent contributors and a complementary star behind Giannis Antetokoumpo.

It’s certainly debatable as to what the Bucks’ pecking order is behind Antetokounmpo, although it seems certain that Khris Middleton‘s next contract will nominally suggest he’s Milwaukee’s second star beyond this summer.

Bledsoe is certainly capable of assuming that status at times throughout the year, though, as he’s illustrated all so clearly in the games immediately before and after agreeing to this extension.

Additionally, this deal also establishes Bledsoe as one of the most essential cogs of a defensive unit that has been transformed this season, and will look to maintain that standard in the years ahead. Antetokounmpo is the Bucks’ best defender, but the influence of Bledsoe and Brook Lopez as totems at point guard and center cannot be overlooked.

With his pressure and intensity, in many ways, Bledsoe is the Bucks’ tone-setter on that end of the floor, and he’ll be tasked with wearing that badge with pride into the future.