Giannis Antetokounmpo discusses his contract extension

“I’m committed. I’m here. And I want with my teammates to be successful, and I want to win another championship”

Jonas Panerio | Oct 25, 2023

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Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo officially put pen to paper on a brand-new three-year contract extension worth $186 million on Tuesday afternoon, ending any talk of him moving to another team in the near future. With his contract saga now in the rearview mirror, the “Greek Freak” hopes all the focus would now be on winning another NBA championship.

“I’m committed. I’m here. And I want with my teammates to be successful, and I want to win another championship,” Giannis said.

The smart thing to do

Giannis had initially said that it didn’t make sense for him to sign an extension right away. However, he changed his tune after talking with some family members, including his older brother and teammate, Thanasis.

“As I said earlier, it wouldn’t make sense for me to sign, but I had a conversation with my family, GM, that it would make more sense for me to sign because I’d be able to – first of all, you don’t know what tomorrow holds – to have eligibility to re-sign in 2026, or I don’t remember when he told me, but that was the smartest thing to do,” Giannis shared during his media session.

“So I just kind of trust his thinking. But also, for me, it takes kind of like focus away from that. I don’t have to think about that. I don’t need the media talks to be about my contract and if I’m going to stay, if I’m going to leave. Because I knew in my heart that I wanted to stay.”

Focus on basketball

More than anything, Giannis stressed that this development would put the focus solely on the game and their quest to add another NBA title.

“The conversation right now is going to be straight basketball. How can we get better? How can we build good habits? How can we be on the court together and play as many minutes as we can together? How can we defend better? How can we get in the right spot and let Dame and Khris and all the guys operate to the best of their ability? Our focus is going to be straight, strictly basketball,” Giannis concluded.