Milwaukee Bucks: Reported timelines on free agency, next season surface
By Dalton Sell
A report from The Athletic details the timeline for free agency and the 2020-21 NBA season, which gives the Milwaukee Bucks a firmer timetable to plan ahead.
The Milwaukee Bucks are gearing up for one of the most critical offseasons in franchise history, and now they have an idea when free-agency and next season might begin.
The executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, Michele Roberts, recently spoke with The Athletic’s Shams Charania ($$) and the topic of this year’s free agency period naturally came up in conversation as there’s been no firm date set yet.
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That continues to be the case, as of this writing, but Roberts’ urgency in saying that the start of free agency can’t go past the start of December for a variety of financial reasons finally gives a window into how the reshaped NBA calendar will look like in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
That’s especially pertinent to a team like the Milwaukee Bucks as it gives them a timetable for when they take care of their first and most significant order of business by offering Giannis Antetokounmpo a supermax extension worth somewhere north of the $200 million range.
The most significant question mark is whether the back-to-back MVP decides to sign such a deal, which could depend on other moves the Milwaukee Bucks decide to make this offseason.
This comes weeks after Bucks’ co-owner Marc Lasry pledged his commitment to spend into the luxury tax to give Antetokounmpo a championship-caliber supporting cast.
Milwaukee will have little spending money this offseason with their projected payroll for next season sitting near the projected $132.7 million tax line. That leaves the team’s desire to find some free-agent upgrades slim, but not impossible. The Bucks’ best bet is through the trade market, where names like Chris Paul or Jrue Holiday could be floating around for the right offer.
An anxiety-induced offseason awaits for the Milwaukee Bucks as Giannis Antetokounmpo ponders his $200-plus million future. For the front office, they know what is on the table this offseason. As Antetokoumpo accepted his second MVP award virtually from Greece, he discussed his potential long-term future with TNT’s Ernie Johnson.
"“As long as everybody is on the same page and as long as everybody is fighting for the same thing every single day, which is to be a champion, I don’t see why not be in Milwaukee for the next 15 years.”"
With that being said, all eyes turn to the front office to provide Giannis with the support that can give him and the city of Milwaukee a genuine shot at a championship.
Combining that with her optimism that next season may start as soon as January, Roberts echoed what NBA commissioner Adam Silver has recently bandied about and the timeline of the next few months for the NBA is gradually becoming clearer as a result.
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Of course, those comments provide hope, but nothing is ever certain in the current climate of the world and big issues still remain at hand. What will be certain, however, is that the Milwaukee Bucks will be very busy this offseason as they prepare for a title run next year.