On the day of the extension deadline, the Milwaukee Bucks locked up one of their two players from the 2018 NBA Draft.
As first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bucks have agreed to a two-year extension with Grayson Allen worth $20 million. The Bucks traded for Allen during this past offseason from the Memphis Grizzlies, and despite not having played a regular season game with the franchise, it looks like they believe he will fit in just fine as the team looks to defend their NBA title.
Thoughts and reactions to the Milwaukee Bucks giving Grayson Allen a contract extension
While Allen will not make his official regular season debut with the Bucks until tomorrow, he showed some solid play in the preseason. Across four games, Allen averaged 11.3 points while shooting 47.1 percent from the floor and 45.8 percent from deep (six attempts on average). Starting alongside Milwaukee’s regular starters like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton, Allen will almost certainly be the team’s starting shooting guard when they take the court versus the Brooklyn Nets tomorrow night. While the preseason production should be taken with a grain of salt with any player, Allen looks like he will be a natural with the Bucks, and handing him this deal before he even appears in a regular season game is justifiable. There will be no speculation or distractions throughout the season regarding his future now.
The Bucks are taking a low risk here with the two years and $20 million on this contract. It could be reasonable for some to believe the Bucks should have waited to see how Allen fits with them throughout the season, but the figures on this deal should ease any of that worry. If something does go wrong for some reason, the Bucks have $10 million in annual salary to utilize in a trade if they are looking to pull off a move down the line at some point. Yet, given how well Allen fits with what this team likes to do on both sides of the ball, they undoubtedly will not mind having him in town for the meantime, and he may even end up exceeding his value on this contract. Overall, this is yet another solid move by general manager Jon Horst, who also recently received a contract extension of his own after constructing the title-winning roster.
On the other hand, this extension for Allen clouds the future for Donte DiVincenzo. It will surprise some that Allen was the player they chose to extend instead of DiVincenzo, a fellow 2018 draftee that has spent all three of his NBA seasons in Milwaukee. However, DiVincenzo is currently not in the fold for the Bucks as he works his way back from season-ending surgery, his second in just three seasons. The Allen trade came to be because of DiVincenzo’s injury, and handing Allen an extension before he plays a game with the franchise could mean the writing is on the wall for DiVincenzo’s future. With DiVincenzo seemingly unlikely to receive an extension, he will enter restricted free agency after the season, and he has no shortage of reasons to be motivated.
Only time will tell how the DiVincenzo saga unfolds, but for Allen and the Bucks, this was a great move for both parties with the new season set to begin tomorrow.