Damian Lillard, Giannis Antetokounmpo and the highest-stakes gamble in the NBA

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Inside the yearslong effort to land Damian Lillard in Milwaukee, and why the Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo desperately need this experiment to work -- and fast.

and quite possibly the best 50-piece chicken nugget celebration in recorded history, before his dad jokes became a bobblehead and his life story became a feature film,For months, he had agonized over whether to extend his contract and commit the next five years of his life and career to thein September 2020 had left a bad taste in everyone's mouth after the Bucks had amassed the best record in the league and Antetokounmpo had won a second straight MVP award.

It was a validation of his faith in the organization and its faith in him, a small-market success story that resonated throughout the sports world.Because this offseason, as the Bucks tried to recover from an even more disappointing first-round loss to the Heat, Antetokounmpo was approaching another big contract decision. Starting Sept. 22, he was eligible to sign a three-year extension worth approximately $169 million. He also had a $51.

"Two years ago when I said the same thing, nobody talked about it because they knew that I was here for the next five years," Antetokounmpo says."It's something I'm going to say until I retire -- and expect for myself until I leave this earth. I always expect to do the best that I can do. I expect to win. I don't want to be in a place that I don't have a chance to win. And sorry if people feel the wrong way about that; that's on them.

"I was literally sitting down in my man cave, thinking I'm going to be in Portland until the deadline , when I got on Instagram," Lillard recalls. He'd been binge-watching"Power Book II: Ghost," the sequel to the hit Starz show,"Power," and was planning to watch another episode when he opened up his phone.

Present this idea to Lillard and he shrugs, then mentions two lesser-known players the Blazers acquired who aren't with Portland anymore."There's a lot of people there -- including Chauncey -- I still have a lot of love for," Lillard says."I just feel like it had run its course. I hate the way that it went and how it became a public thing the way it did, but it is what it is. I made peace with it, and I don't walk away from it with any hard feelings.

Hoover can smile now that Lillard is in Milwaukee. But for months -- no, years -- he has had to suppress any expression of how badly he and the organization have wanted to pair Lillard with Antetokounmpo. with the Bucks. The parallels to three years earlier were unmistakable. Each time Antetokounmpo had asked the Bucks for help, they'd swung a trade for an impact guard right before the season. In 2020, that guard was Holiday. In 2023, it was Lillard. Three weeks after each of those trades, Antetokounmpo committed more years of his prime to the Bucks."The Milwaukee Bucks organization, they've been there with me since the beginning. They changed my life.

 

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