57.6 million maximum salary! Publicly express dissatisfaction! NBA wealthy families paid the wrong payment, and 113 million buyout was betrayed

Editor|Old Kankao Ball

This offseason, the NBA is very lively. Due to the renewal of Kumingga, the Warriors' team's reinforcement and signing were restricted and nothing was obtained. The two sides were completely in a stalemate. How to end was still a question; the Lakers' management successfully reached a three-year, 165 million maximum salary renewal contract with Doncic, and the team's resources began to tilt towards the rising stars. Although James decided to execute the player option contract of $52.6 million next season, this summer was abnormal, focusing only on training and vacations, and ignored the team's reinforcement.

Of course, there are also stars in the league that stretch their hands too long. Last season's playoffs, the G5 Bucks played against the Pacers in the first round of the Eastern Conference, and Lillard accidentally suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon, which directly led to reimbursement for the new season. As an NBA giant in recent years, the Bucks naturally do not want to surrender. In order to continue to strengthen and increase the team's competitiveness in the offseason, they made a rare gamble in NBA history: Lillard, who has left the remaining two-year, $113 million maximum salary contract, just to free up salary space and sign center Miles Turner.

Immediately afterwards, the management did its best to renew the role players such as Portis (44 million in 3 years), Kevin Porter Jr. (11 million in 2 years) to create a paper-balanced lineup.

However, when the management pushed all the chips to the table, Antetokounmpo quietly let go of his hand holding the card.

01 The Bucks' desperate bet: to keep Antetokounmpo's future championship season, although the team's management strengthened year by year and traded to send away core players such as Holiday and Middleton, but they were out of the first round of the playoffs for three consecutive years. Antetokounmpo's patience has been exhausted in failure. If the Bucks want to keep this MVP-level superstar, they must continue to strengthen, even though the team's future assets have almost exhausted in the previous few offseasons.

Therefore, the Bucks made the most expensive stop loss decision in NBA history this summer: Lillard, who had a ruptured Achilles tendon, even though he had two years left in the contract. The team then adopted an extended clause to share the huge sum of payments for the next five years, with a payment of $22.6 million a year.

Utilizing the freed salary space, the Bucks traded continuously:

signed Turner for 107 million yuan in four years and upgraded to the fifth position configuration;

renewed the contract with 44 million yuan in three years and continued the bench firepower;

locked Porter Jr. with 11 million yuan in two years and added ball-holding points to the backcourt;

Trent (7.5 million yuan in two years) and Prince (7.1 million yuan in two years) strengthened the depth of the wing;

signing Cole Anthony and Gary Harris at a basic salary is a great value.

Even so, it still failed to win Antetokounmpo's favor.

02 Antetokounmpo's little thoughts: betrayal and questioning

On the day Lillard was sacked, Antetokounmpo publicly expressed his dissatisfaction, believing that he lacked basic respect for meritorious players. His agent even tweeted directly and said bluntly: "The Bucks are so unkind." This move undoubtedly put aside his suspicion, took away his own suspicion, and completely removed himself and his team, pushing the Bucks management into an unkind and unjust role.

But the fact is, is the Bucks management willing to spend 113 million yuan to cut Lillard? If you don’t do this, will Antetokounmpo still be willing to continue playing for Milwaukee?

Even though the Bucks management racked their brains and bet on everything, they still failed to get Antetokounmpo's approval and were stabbed.

According to the NBA famous reporter Shams, Antetokounmpo has "very serious" to discuss the future with the management, assessing the possibility of the team winning the championship, and there is no conclusion on whether to stay in the Bucks. Antetokounmpo is still evaluating his future.

03 The farce was staged again: the league was undercurrents

In the summer of 23, Antetokounmpo also frequently made rumors of leaving the team, and finally ended the farce with a three-year, $186 million early contract renewal.

Salary details for the next three seasons:

2025-26 season $57.6 million

2026-27 season $62.21 million

2027-28 season $66.82 million (player option)

Although the annual salary ranks third in the league, Antetokounmpo is still not satisfied.

According to Shams' follow-up report, many teams are closely following Antetokounmpo's trends and are ready to trade chips at any time, including the Knicks, Lakers, Spurs and other teams. Anonymous executive of the league also said: When Doncic can be put on the shelves by the Mavericks, it seems natural for Antetokounmpo to take the initiative to seek change.

04 Loyalty and Championship: The Bucks finally made a mistake. Antetokounmpo has publicly stated many times before: "I don't want to be a jumping player, this is my home!"

But with the Bucks being eliminated in the first round for three consecutive years, the lineup competitiveness has been worse than that of one year, and the future draft picks have basically become bargaining chips and were sent away. Antetokounmpo began to fall into a dilemma: on one side there is "one person, one city", and on the other side there is the eternal pursuit of the "O'Brien Cup".

"The Bucks have done everything they can do." An Eastern Conference scout is not worth it for the Bucks, "But Antetokounmpo wants too much, and they can no longer afford it."