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How Giannis Antetokounmpo's megadeal stacks up with other top contracts

16 December 2020
Dan Ackermann
Data: Spotrac; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

Giannis Antetokounmpo has signed a five-year, $228.2 million extension to continue playing for the Milwaukee Bucks — the largest contract in NBA history by both total and average annual value.

Why it matters: Teams have been positioning themselves for a run at Antetokounmpo for months amid rumblings that the Greek superstar, a year from free agency, might test the market next summer.

  • Now, the biggest piece is off the board, and the small-market Bucks should remain title contenders for the foreseeable future.
  • Plus, it's the rare NBA deal in which a superstar stuck with the team that found and developed him.

The big picture: This offseason was laden with huge NBA contracts, pushing the active number of deals with an average annual value (AAV) of at least $20 million to 60 — by far the most of the major North American sports leagues.

  • MLB has 35 such contracts, from Hyun-Jin Ryu's deal with Toronto (four years, $80 million) to Mike Trout's behemoth Angels contract (12 years, $426.5 million). Highest AAV? Yankees ace Gerrit Cole at $36 million per year.
  • The NFL has 30, from Chiefs DT Chris Jones (four years, $80 million) to his teammate, the league's richest man, Patrick Mahomes (10 years, $450 million).
  • The NHL has no contracts worth more than $12.5 million annually (Connor McDavid; eight years, $100 million) or $124 million total (Alex Ovechkin; 13 years, with one remaining).

Notes:

  • QBs get paid: The top 11 NFL contracts by AAV belong to QBs. Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins has the highest AAV ($27.3 million) of any non-QB.
  • NFL caveat: Football money is not fully guaranteed. For example, Deshaun Watson is guaranteed just under half of his $156 million deal ($74.9 million).
  • LeBron's savvy: None of the King's contracts blow you away from a total value perspective because he's shrewdly maximized earnings and flexibility by signing short-term deals.

Looking ahead: Antetokounmpo coming off the board means next year's free agent class features ... basically nobody.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.