After locking up head coach Mike Budenholzer earlier this offseason, the Milwaukee Bucks have locked up another key part of their management staff early Friday morning. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bucks have agreed to a long-term contract extension with general manager Jon Horst.
There wasn’t an exact amount of years given by Wojnarowski other than he’s locked in for “the next several years.” Regardless, it’s a good job by the Bucks ownership group to get this done as Horst has helped build a championship-caliber roster since taking over as GM in 2017. Horst was the NBA Executive of the Year in 2019 after the Bucks had the best record in the league after adding Budenholzer and Brook Lopez among others, the team has held the best record in two of his first four seasons as GM and the Bucks have the league’s best winning percentage at 66.7 percent since Horst took over.
Over the past calendar year, the Bucks have now extended Horst and Budenholzer along with key player extensions such as Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday. The Bucks have their core both on and off the court locked up for the foreseeable future as they look to continue one of the best stretches of successful basketball in team history.
Reactions to the Milwaukee Bucks extending GM Jon Horst
Like him or not, keeping Horst around long-term is important for the continuity of the organization. There are a lot of teams that want to model themselves after the San Antonio Spurs long-time dynasty but don’t realize that continuity on-and-off the court is arguably the most important factor in that.
This isn’t to say the Bucks want to be the Spurs or that they’ll be as successful, but the biggest factor for sustained, long-term success is continuity within the front office and on the court. The Bucks now have that with Horst, Budenholzer, Antetokounmpo, Holiday, and Khris Middleton all signed until at least 2023-24.
You can quibble with some of the moves that Horst has made in his career (Malcolm Brogdon and some cap mismanagement in particular), but overall it has been a very successful tenure for Horst to this point and the results on the floor speak for themselves. He’s been able to make the Bucks better around the margins with limited flexibility, especially this past offseason.
The mistakes he’s made with certain signings (Eric Bledsoe and D.J. Augustin), he’s been able to get off of those contracts while making the team better by shipping them off for players that make the team better.
I went back recently to grade Horst’s tenure through the draft, free agency, and trades. To no one’s surprise, I was very high on what Horst has been able to accomplish. He has helped sustain the Bucks championship window and looked to extend it for as long as possible by adding relatively young players like Bobby Portis and Grayson Allen who can make an impact as role players.
Horst has developed a winning culture within the Bucks and it started with the hiring of Budenholzer and the two have developed a great partnership that has sometimes been criticized (by me as well) but in the end, they’re NBA champions now.
It hasn’t been easy for Horst after working his way through the Detroit Pistons and Bucks organizations under former GM John Hammond, before being named the league’s youngest GM at the time when he was promoted in 2017. He’s only 38 years old now and will continue to be the front office leader for one of the NBA’s best teams for the long haul.
Although it may never have been in doubt, keeping the architect of the reigning NBA Champions cannot be undersold for how important it is long-term.