Giannis Antetokounmpo won’t be a free agent until the summer of 2021, but Joel Embiid is already laying the groundwork for bringing the Milwaukee Bucks star to the Philadelphia 76ers.
According to Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Antetokounmpo said he spoke with Embiid during the All-Star break and heard a brief pitch.
“He told me I should trust the process and come play for Philly. That was my reaction — I just laughed.”
Without a doubt, the possibility of having Antetokounmpo and Embiid is entertaining. Fortunately for Bucks fans, though, the only way their MVP-caliber player is skipping town anytime soon would be via a trade.
Antetokounmpo is due $77.5 million from the 2018-19 season through 2020-21, per Basketball Insiders. Rest easy, Milwaukee faithful, the 23-year-old is under team control for a while.
Besides, nobody can be certain what will happen three summers from now. Perhaps Antetokounmpo will painlessly re-sign and not even entertain free agency. Maybe he’ll test the waters and return. Maybe he won’t. That’s not worth worrying about right now.
But for Embiid, there are worse strategies than planting a thought in Antetokounmpo’s mind. They’ll likely see each other on All-Star weekend every year for a long time, and the relationship could become important.
Or, it’ll simply be yet another enjoyable moment where Embiid rolled out his favorite line.