Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Jimmy Haslam said he wants Giannis Antetokounmpo’s future with the franchise decided before next month’s NBA draft, speaking Wednesday at a news conference introducing Taylor Jenkins as the team’s coach. “I just think before the draft is a natural time,” Haslam said, per the report.
Antetokounmpo has spent his entire 13-year career with the Bucks, but the report says he could leave Milwaukee after a frustrating, injury-marred season. The report says Antetokounmpo has said repeatedly that he likes playing in Milwaukee but wants to play for a franchise committed to competing for championships. The Bucks went 32-50 this season, snapping a string of nine straight playoff appearances.
The report says the Bucks can offer Antetokounmpo a four-year, $275 million contract extension in October; if he does not sign that extension, he could become a free agent after next season. Haslam said he would like the matter settled well before October and spoke as though the decision rests with the Bucks as much as it does with Antetokounmpo. “We never had any problem communicating directly with Giannis — at all — and always knew where he stood,” Haslam said. “Sometime over the next six or seven weeks, we’ll decide whether Giannis is going to sign a max contract and stay with us, or he’s going to play somewhere else.”
Haslam linked the roster-building approach to Antetokounmpo’s decision, saying, “Because if Giannis does play somewhere else, we’ve got to have a lot of assets. That’s Jon’s job to do. And if he’s here, then you build the team differently,” per the report. The Bucks will have a lottery pick this year in their own spot or in New Orleans’ spot, whichever is less favorable, and the draft lottery is Sunday, the report says.
General manager Jon Horst noted the organization did not seek player input for this coaching search, the report says. Jenkins said he has communicated with Antetokounmpo since taking the job and quoted the star as expressing “tremendous excitement for me and my family.” The report says Jenkins coached the Memphis Grizzlies from 2019 to 2025, going 250-214, leading them to three straight playoff appearances from 2021 to 2023 and advancing beyond the first round once in 2022; it also says Memphis went 27-55 in 2023-24 amid injuries and fired Jenkins with nine games left in the 2024-25 season, when the Grizzlies were swept by eventual champion Oklahoma City in the first round.
