Milwaukee Bucks: Pat Connaughton discusses free agency future

With his current deal with the Milwaukee Bucks coming to an end after this season, Pat Connaughton has opened up about his free agency hopes.

With the NBA season currently suspended and no real potential for resumption immediately on the horizon, there are a number of Milwaukee Bucks players who will face an uncertain few months in regard to their future.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the standout of those in terms of his own supermax extension talks, but the effect the delay could have, let alone a potential drop in the salary cap, on some of the Bucks’ rotation pieces shouldn’t be overlooked either.

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Certainly finding himself in that category is Pat Connaughton, a player who has enjoyed relative success over his two years in Milwaukee, and certainly built up a strong relationship with the fans and the city.

Connaughton is in the final season of a two-year veteran minimum deal with the Bucks, and with Milwaukee possibly facing a really brutal luxury tax crunch as a reduced salary cap comes into play, the prospects of him receiving any kind of notable pay rise from his current team seems slim.

Having said that, the Bucks will need to fill out their roster with low cost deals, and it would seem likely that they’ll be very eager to retain Connaughton given his comfort within Mike Budenholzer’s incredibly successful system over the past two campaigns.

With that in mind, it’s fair to wonder what the chances are of Connaughton potentially being willing to return to the Bucks, even if that means coming to terms on a veteran minimum deal once again.

Speaking to Michael Pina for SB Nation on Tuesday, Connaughton gave an indication of his current thoughts on that situation, and his pragmatic approach would seem like encouraging news for the Bucks:

"“Would I like to make a lot of money playing in the NBA? Absolutely. But if the cap gets affected there’s nothing I can do about it.I want to continue to play in the NBA. I want to continue to be part of the Milwaukee Bucks as a championship contender, and I want to continue to help my team eventually win a championship, two, three, four, whatever it is. What my contract looks like while I’m doing that? If it was more money and more guaranteed years, absolutely, I’d love that. But as long as I’m here, as long as I’m playing, as long as I’m doing my job to continue to be an NBA player, a dream that I wanted to accomplish since I was a kid, it’s quite possible I make more money outside of basketball than I do in basketball when it’s all said and done.”"

In that same interview, which is a must-read for Bucks fans, Connaughton speaks at length about his real estate business and how he hopes that it may in fact prove to be his long-term source of income, far surpassing his NBA salaries.

Perhaps that focus, and Connaughton’s level of preparedness for what comes next after his playing career, could lead to him agreeing to a longer term stay in Milwaukee.

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For now, though, it remains a waiting game as the future of the current NBA season and the subsequent offseason remain up in the air.

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