Where Does Giannis Antetokounmpo Rank Among NBA’s Best Valued Contracts?

All season long the talk around Giannis Antetokounmpo’s contract situation centered around what he’ll do this summer. In typical seasons, the Milwaukee Bucks would have been able to offer him a designated veteran contract extension (AKA the supermax) on July 1, 2020. Captain Obvious here: This is not a typical season.

The supermax extension is a five-year offer worth up to 35 percent of the salary cap with an eight percent escalation each season and would begin for Antetokounmpo in the 2021-22 season. With COVID-19 upending life as we know it there’s no saying what a new timetable of offseason events will look like if/when play resumes, and exactly how much the contract would be worth given future salary cap mysteries.

Regardless of questions surrounding Antetokounmpo’s future income, it’s safe to say he’s one of the most underpaid players in the NBA compared to his on the court value.

In 2019-20, he increased his points per game to 29.6—continuing a trend that’s literally happened every year of his career—despite playing nearly two fewer minutes a contest than a season ago. He also grabbed more rebounds than ever before (13.7 per game) while also adding 5.8 assists, 1 steal and 1 block.

The list of players to ever average 29 points, 13 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game only includes Antetokounmpo. Even if we broaden our spectrum a ton to 28 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists, there are only six players to ever accomplish those numbers—and every single one needed 42 plus minutes per game to do so, while our guy did it in under 31.

There’s no one player in the world who can stop Antetokounmpo by himself. He has an unparalleled blend of strength, speed and quickness to go along with a killer’s mentality. On the defensive end, he can guard any position and any player that steps on the court. This makes him one of the most useful two-way players the game has ever seen.

The reigning MVP was well on his way to winning the award again—97 percent of The Athletic’s NBA staff voted him the league’s Most Valuable Player for 2019-20—and he could’ve also earned the Defensive Player of the Year honors. He’s that good.

However, he’s vastly underpaid compared to what he could be making in a free market. Antetokounmpo signed a four-year, $100 million extension in September of 2016 that he quickly outplayed. He makes $25.8 million this season (42nd highest in the NBA) and only $27.5 million in 2020-21 (39th highest). Hell, he’s not even the highest paid player on his own damn team! (That title belongs to Khris Middleton who makes $30.6 million this season thanks to the five-year, $177.5 million deal he signed last summer).

Among players not on their rookie deal, there’s nobody really close to maximizing their dollar value on that same level.

Anthony Davis ($27 million this season) might give Antetokounmpo the best run for his money (pun emphatically intended!). However, the Greek Freak has shown himself to be in a tier of his own, almost single-handedly carrying a team to championship contention where Davis failed to accomplish that same task. Damian Lillard ($28 million ), Nikola Jokic ($29.5 million) and even LeBron James ($37.4 million) are honorable mentions.

The rest of the list includes players on their rookie contract and probably aren’t fair comparisons. Someone like Luka Doncic, who masterfully elevated himself into the MVP conversation in just his second season, is making $7.4 million in 2019-20 and will only make $18.1 million combined over the next two seasons as well. Ben Simmons ($6.7 million), Pascal Siakam ($1.6 million!) and Trae Young ($6.1 million) are worth noting as well.

Antetokounmpo’s “low” salary is also why Milwaukee was able to surround him with such great talent. The front office re-signed Middleton to a nearly max deal while also extending Eric Bledsoe ($15.6 million) and re-signing Brook Lopez ($12.1 million) and George Hill ($9.2 million).

There’s an argument to be made that even if Antetokounmpo signs a max extension with the Bucks he’ll continue to be underpaid, but that’s a different story for a different day.