In this era of parity in the NBA, there’s not one clear path to building a championship team, but it appears the Knicks’ model is pretty foolproof, although highly difficult to replicate. The biggest key to their team-building success? They got Finals MVP Jalen Brunson to take a crazy, team-friendly contract extension, which allowed them to splurge on players like OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns.
This certainly isn’t something that we’re used to seeing from superstars, and the circumstances were a bit unique for Brunson, who was a second-round pick getting his first real payday on a team where his dad was an assistant coach.
But still, maybe the Knicks’ success will inspire other superstars to follow suit and show how committed they are to winning. And what better player to follow that trend than Giannis Antetokounmpo? Giannis is clearly the bell of the ball this offseason, but a big part of every trade rumor is his four-year, $275 million extension that would theoretically kick in a season from now.
There’s no question of whether he’s worth the money, or has earned it, but there’s also no question that with this current CBA, it’s incredibly difficult to build a sustainable winner with these supermax contracts. There’s certainly no pressure on Giannis to take a pay cut, but doing so would make his trade considerations a heck of a lot simpler.
Giannis pay cut could make all the difference for Celtics
Let’s say he agreed to extend with the Celtics for 30% of the cap instead of 35%, or possibly even less. He’d still be making an absurd amount of money, and he has already made over $300 million in his NBA career, not counting endorsement money and otherwise.
That little extra wiggle room could make a huge difference for Boston if they were to trade for Giannis and could allow them to splurge a bit more on the margins and truly build the kind of team that could win multiple championships over the next few seasons.
I’m not one to pocket-watch, and at the end of the day, Giannis deserves to go get every dollar he can. But also, he seems to know that joining the Heat won’t give him the championship equity he desires, so if he truly wants to get to Boston and win, leaving some money on the table for the team to invest in other players and to allow for future flexibility could go a long way in getting this thing across the finish line.
To be clear, there’s zero reporting that this will happen, and no reason to believe a top five player in the world will take anything less than a supermax deal that he has earned in what may be the 31-year-old’s last chance to make this kind of money. But maybe, just maybe, he watched what Brunson did for the Knicks, and has some desires to do the same kind of thing for Boston.
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