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      N.B.A. Eastern Conference Preview: Will the Nets Reign Supreme?

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyN.B.A. Eastern Conference Preview: Will the Nets Reign Supreme?The Bucks got better, but the Nets with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant might be too much for Milwaukee — or any other team in the East — to overcome.With Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant healthy, and a strong supporting cast, the Nets are poised to make a run to the top of the Eastern Conference.Credit…Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty ImagesDec. 21, 2020, 3:00 a.m. ETIs it already the most wonderful time of year again? With LeBron alley-ooping and referees demanding we be of good cheer? There’ll be dunks used for posting, Kawhi laughs for roasting and trash talking out in the snowwwww.Yes, the N.B.A. season is upon us, beginning Tuesday, with a much different landscape from any other season. Most arenas won’t have fans in the stands because of the pandemic. At the same time, several top stars who missed most or all of last season will be returning, shifting the balance of power in the N.B.A.And all eyes are on James Harden to see where he ends up, whether he has to stay in Houston for the season or gets sent to one of his preferred destinations, like Milwaukee, Philadelphia or Miami.The Eastern Conference is wide open this year. Here’s a look at where it stands.The ContendersNow that Kevin Durant, left, and Kyrie Irving are finally able to play together, they should make the Nets the best team in the East.Credit…Kathy Willens/Associated PressBrooklyn Nets2019-2020 record: 35-37 (No. 7 playoff seed)Key additions: Jeff Green, Landry ShametKey subtractions: Wilson Chandler, Garrett TempleOutlook: On paper, this is the most talented team in the East, if not the league. The only new players this season are key reserves, but the real addition is Kevin Durant, who is ready to play after missing last season with an Achilles’ tendon injury. His friend and fellow perennial All-Star Kyrie Irving also will be returning, from a shoulder injury that limited him to 20 games last season. If they are close to the players they were before their injuries, this team is a threat to win the finals, especially considering its dynamic supporting cast.The Nets have elite shooting in Shamet and Joe Harris; rebounding and shot-blocking in DeAndre Jordan and Jarrett Allen; quality playmakers in Caris LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie; and bench sparkplugs like Green and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot.Getting Giannis Antetokounmpo signed to an extension was a victory of its own kind for the Milwaukee Bucks.Credit…Pool photo by Ashley LandisMilwaukee Bucks2019-2020 record: 56-17 (No. 1 seed)Key additions: Jrue Holiday, D.J. Augustin, Bobby Portis, Torrey CraigKey subtractions: Robin Lopez, Eric Bledsoe, Marvin Williams, Wesley Matthews, Ersan IlyasovaOutlook: The Bucks enter the season without the cloud of whether Giannis Antetokounmpo will sign an extension hanging over Wisconsin. That’s a huge win in itself. But now the focus will be on whether this team will vie for a championship or disappear early in the playoffs again.Trading for Holiday, a former All-Star, was a great start. Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Holiday are a fearsome trio. The Bucks also revamped their bench, adding Augustin, a veteran who can shoot the ball, to make up for the loss of players like Matthews and Ilyasova. (Side note: Antetokounmpo has the opportunity to become the first player since Larry Bird in 1985-86 to win the Most Valuable Player Award for a third straight season.)Repeating as the Eastern Conference champions could be tough for the Miami Heat.Credit…Kim Klement/USA Today Sports, via ReutersMiami Heat2019-2020 record: 44-29 (No. 5 seed)Key additions: Avery Bradley, Maurice HarklessKey departures: Solomon HillOutlook: After last year’s Cinderella run to the finals, the Heat enter this season with the same team more or less, led by Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Goran Dragic. You can expect Tyler Herro, who mostly came off the bench last season and delivered many strong performances in the playoffs, to have a bigger role. You do wonder whether Miami will be able to take teams by surprise again, with many teams in the East making significant moves to get better or having players return from injury.The MaybesThe Sixers brought in two elite shooters, but they still need Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons to improve to avoid last season’s disappointment.Credit…Matt Slocum/Associated PressPhiladelphia 76ers2019-2020 record: 43-30 (No. 6 seed)Key additions: Seth Curry, Danny Green, Dwight HowardKey departures: Al Horford, Josh RichardsonOutlook: Daryl Morey, the new team president, already left his mark on the roster, shipping out the ill-fitting Horford for Green, who will provide Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons some much needed spacing, as will Curry. The team is better balanced than the disappointing one last season, but Embiid and Simmons still must elevate their play. (And let’s not forget: The Sixers are in play to trade for Houston’s James Harden.)The Celtics are counting on Jayson Tatum’s improvement to go deeper into the playoffs this season.Credit…Matt Slocum/Associated PressBoston Celtics2019-2020 record: 48-24 (No. 3 seed)Key additions: Jeff Teague, Tristan ThompsonKey departures: Gordon Hayward, Brad WanamakerOutlook: This was a bad off-season for the Celtics, who lost Hayward, an All-Star talent, in a free-agency-related trade that netted Boston a record trade exception, which the franchise could use to acquire a solid rotation player. To contend, the Celtics will need Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown to make another leap, plus better-than-expected contributions from their stable of young players like Grant Williams, Robert Williams and Romeo Langford, especially given Kemba Walker’s knee troubles.The dynamic guard Trae Young and a much-improved roster make the Hawks a must-watch this season.Credit…Dale Zanine/USA Today Sports, via ReutersAtlanta Hawks2019-2020 record: 20-47Key additions: Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Rajon Rondo, Kris Dunn, Solomon HillKey departures: Vince Carter, Evan Turner, Jeff TeagueOutlook: The Hawks are a team primed to make The Leap. Aside from having an elite talent like Trae Young, the team signed several strong veterans to surround a dynamic core that includes John Collins, Clint Capela, Kevin Huerter and Cam Reddish. Melding so many new faces will be difficult, and this team will probably be poor defensively. But Atlanta will be a must-watch on League Pass.Russell Westbrook was a surprise addition to a Wizards team that struggled last season.Credit…Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesWashington Wizards2019-2020 record: 25-47Key additions: Russell Westbrook, Robin Lopez, Raul NetoKey departures: John WallOutlook: Both of the team’s stars — Bradley Beal and Westbrook — will be playing this season with chips on their shoulders: Beal, for being snubbed for All-N.B.A. teams despite his stellar last season and Westbrook for the narrative surrounding his campaign in Houston, despite making an All N.B.A. team. Look for Rui Hachimura to be in the conversation for the Most Improved Player Award after a strong rookie season.The Indiana Pacers had a quiet off-season, but at least Victor Oladipo is still with them.Credit…David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty ImagesIndiana Pacers2019-2020 record: 45-28 (No. 4 seed)Key additions: NoneKey departures: NoneOutlook: The biggest acquisition the Pacers made this off-season was a new coach, Nate Bjorkgren. Aside from that, they’ll have a healthy Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis to build around, as well as Malcolm Brogdon and TJ Warren, who had a great run in the Florida bubble. Hard to see this team making any real noise as the season progresses, though.Pascal Siakam wasn’t great in the playoffs, but he still has value for the Raptors this season.Credit…Kim Klement/USA Today Sports, via ReutersToronto Raptors2019-2010 record: 53-19 (No. 2 seed)Key additions: DeAndre’ Bembry, Alex Len, Aron BaynesKey departures: Serge IbakaOutlook: This might be the toughest team in the East to peg. Pascal Siakam’s stock took a dive after his performance in the playoffs, and replacing Ibaka with the combination of Baynes and Len might not be enough. Kyle Lowry turns 35 this season. Toronto was knocked out of the playoffs in the second round and didn’t upgrade much in talent. Even so, the Raptors are never to be counted out.The Non-ContendersThe Magic sneaked into the playoffs last season and look to be only so-so again.Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesOrlando Magic2019-2020 record: 33-40 (No. 8 seed)Key additions: Cole AnthonyKey departures: D.J. AugustinOutlook: The only reason to watch this team is to see what kind of player Anthony, drafted 15th over all last month, will be. Otherwise, the team is set up to be average again, especially with Jonathan Isaac likely to miss the year with a knee injury. It’s time for this franchise to start over. Building around Aaron Gordon and Evan Fournier is just not good enough.LaMelo Ball, the Hornets rookie, has already made waves during the preseason with his playmaking skills.Credit…Chris Carlson/Associated PressCharlotte Hornets2019-2020 record: 23-42Key additions: LaMelo Ball, Gordon HaywardKey departures: Nicolas BatumOutlook: This team could challenge for the playoffs. Hayward had a great year in Boston last season, and Ball is showing himself to be a talented playmaker during the preseason. Devonte’ Graham (18.2 points a game in his sophomore N.B.A. campaign) is a solid young talent poised for a leap.Zach LaVine can put up big numbers for the Bulls, but this season they need him to be consistent.Credit…Nam Y. Huh/Associated PressChicago Bulls2019-2020 record: 22-43Key additions: Garrett Temple, Patrick WilliamsKey departures: NoneOutlook: The Bulls have a new coach, Billy Donovan, who has a penchant for squeezing production out of less-than-stellar rosters. Zach LaVine put up all All-Star numbers (25.5 points a game) last season, but will need more consistent playmaking to actually become one. If the Bulls want to be competitive, they’ll need Lauri Markkanen to recover from a down year.Obi Toppin will give Knicks fans something to cheer about this season.Credit…Raj Mehta/USA Today Sports, via ReutersKnicks2019-2020 record: 21-45Key additions: Obi Toppin, Alec BurksKey departures: Bobby Portis, Wayne Ellington, Maurice HarklessOutlook: The Knicks, aside from hiring Tom Thibodeau as coach, didn’t make any major moves this off-season, which is fine. They sat out a weak free-agent class and kept their flexibility. Barring any major star trades, this is another development year for the franchise. It’s a chance to determine what exactly RJ Barrett, Kevin Knox and Mitchell Robinson can do. Separately, Toppin may be the most exciting Knicks draft pick in years.Blake Griffin’s future with the Detroit Pistons is uncertain.Credit…Raj Mehta/USA Today Sports, via ReutersDetroit Pistons2019-2020 record: 20-46Key additions: Killian Hayes, Mason Plumlee, Jahlil Okafor, Josh Jackson, Jerami Grant, Saddiq BeyKey departures: Luke Kennard, Christian WoodOutlook: It was an odd off-season for Detroit, as the team stocked up on big men who can’t shoot, while trading away talented pieces like Kennard and Wood. But Blake Griffin is healthy, and the franchise is hoping Hayes is ready for big minutes. This is probably not a playoff team right now, but players like Hayes offer hope for the future. Will Griffin be on the team come season’s end?The Cavaliers were at the bottom of the East last season, and their prospects now don’t look much better.Credit…Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty ImagesCleveland Cavaliers2019-2020 record: 19-46Key additions: Isaac Okoro, JaVale McGeeKey departures: Tristan ThompsonOutlook: Collin Sexton, going into his third year, is one of the few guaranteed bright spots on the team. He’s a proven scorer. But Andre Drummond and Kevin Love on the frontline are … an interesting pairing. It wouldn’t be shocking to see Cleveland last in the conference again.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Giannis Antetokounmpo Signs $228 Million Extension With Bucks

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyGiannis Antetokounmpo Signs $228 Million Extension With BucksWith less than a week before the deadline, Antetokounmpo signed a five-year extension with the team that drafted him in 2013. He has won the past two N.B.A. Most Valuable Player Awards.Giannis Antetokounmpo posted on social media that he was “blessed to be able to be a part of the Milwaukee Bucks for the next 5 years.”Credit…Ashley Landis/Associated PressDec. 15, 2020Updated 7:01 p.m. ETGiannis Antetokounmpo redoubled his commitment to the only N.B.A. franchise he has known by signing a five-year contract extension worth an estimated $228 million from the Milwaukee Bucks.Six days before a Dec. 21 deadline to either sign the so-called supermax extension or become an unrestricted free agent after this season, Antetokounmpo on Tuesday released a statement via his social media channels proclaiming himself “blessed to be able to be a part of the Milwaukee Bucks for the next 5 years.”“This is my home, this is my city,” Antetokounmpo wrote.This is my home, this is my city.. I’m blessed to be able to be a part of the Milwaukee Bucks for the next 5 years. Let’s make these years count. The show goes on, let’s get it. 🤎🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/895tCBE9RK— Giannis Ugo Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) December 15, 2020
      In a team statement later Tuesday confirming the deal, Antetokounmpo said: “You took a chance on us eight years ago and now putting my signature on a contract like this is unreal — but it’s all because of hard work. This is my home and I’m going to continue working hard and do my best to make the Bucks, our fans and the city proud. Let’s have fun, win and make these years count.”The Bucks selected Antetokounmpo, who was born and raised in Greece by Nigerian parents, with the 15th overall pick in the 2013 draft, despite Antetokounmpo’s limited professional experience in the Greek second division. Antetokounmpo has blossomed beyond all expectations to win back-to-back Most Valuable Player Awards and, by committing his long-term future to the Bucks, has delivered the team its most significant victory since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson led Milwaukee to its lone N.B.A. championship in 1970-1971.“This is one of the great days in Bucks history,” Peter Feigin, the Bucks’ team president, said during a virtual meeting organized by the Milwaukee Press Club shortly after Antetokounmpo revealed the news.Antetokounmpo, who turned 26 on Dec. 6, is under contract for one more season on his current deal and, because he signed an extension, cannot be traded by the Bucks before next season. The extension is the largest contract in N.B.A. history, surpassing the five-year, $207 million contract Russell Westbrook signed to stay with the Oklahoma City Thunder in September 2017. Antetokounmpo’s new deal includes a player option after the 2024-25 season that would allow him to enter free agency one year early.After winning M.V.P. honors for the first time in 2018-19, Antetokounmpo averaged 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game last season to repeat as M.V.P. He was also named Defensive Player of the Year last season, joining Michael Jordan (1987-88) and Hakeem Olajuwon (1993-94) as the only players to win the M.V.P. and defensive player awards in the same season.The Bucks posted the league’s best regular-season record in each of the past two seasons but have had back-to-back playoff disappointments, which led to considerable apprehension in Milwaukee that Antetokounmpo might pass on the extension and choose a new team next season. After a meek second-round playoff series loss to the Miami Heat this summer, Bucks officials promised Antetokounmpo that they would upgrade the roster — and they duly agreed to a trade in November to acquire the highly rated guard Jrue Holiday from the New Orleans Pelicans.But a planned sign-and-trade deal with the Sacramento Kings to acquire the sharpshooting restricted free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic in addition to Holiday collapsed and, as The New York Times first reported, prompted the league office to open an investigation. The N.B.A. is exploring possible violations of its anti-tampering rules, since it appeared that the Bucks and Kings had already reached an agreement on a sign-and-trade transaction more than three days before free-agent discussions of any kind were allowed to start. Bogdanovic eventually joined the Atlanta Hawks after he signed a four-year, $72 million offer sheet with the Hawks that Sacramento elected not to match.Tuesday’s announcement ended a nervy period for the Bucks since the Holiday acquisition and the Bogdanovic drama, sparing the small-market franchise from the specter of constant questions about Antetokounmpo’s future as the Bucks try to make it back to the N.B.A. finals for the first time since 1973-74. After that season, Abdul-Jabbar quietly asked Milwaukee to trade him, saying he preferred to live in New York or Los Angeles. The request ultimately led the Bucks to trade Abdul-Jabbar to the Los Angeles Lakers in June 1975.In a 2017 interview with The Times, Antetokounmpo described himself as “a low-profile guy” who had no interest in “all these flashy cities like L.A. or Miami.”“I don’t know if I could be the same player if I played in those cities,” Antetokounmpo said then.Teams such as Miami, Toronto and Dallas had been managing their payrolls in hopes of making a free-agent run at Antetokounmpo in 2021, but to the Bucks’ great relief, teams in flashier markets won’t get that chance.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Giannis Antetokounmpo Has Left the Bucks, and Their Fans, Waiting

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyGiannis Antetokounmpo Has Plenty of Pens. But Will He Sign?The Milwaukee Bucks superstar was gifted pens by many of his teammates in hopes he would sign a so-called supermax deal with the team. In a complicated business, it’s not that simple.Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks has won the N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award in back-to-back seasons. He has an entire city and region waiting to see if he will stick around.Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesDec. 11, 2020, 2:35 p.m. ETWhen the Milwaukee Bucks showed up for training camp on Sunday, Khris Middleton presented his teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo with a gift for his 26th birthday: a pen. Antetokounmpo did not understand its significance at first.“Then I was thinking about it, and I realized he was wanting me to sign the contract,” he said.Antetokounmpo got the joke. He thought it was funny. But as more teammates arrived and they continued to bestow him with pens, he apparently stopped laughing.“It got a little bit old,” he said. “I’ve got 20 pens here in my locker.”The problem is that Antetokounmpo has not used any of them for their intended purpose. He has until Dec. 21 to sign a so-called supermax contract extension that would be worth about $227 million and would run through the 2025-26 season. Barring that, or a more modest extension, he would become an unrestricted free agent next summer.Waiting is the hardest part in Milwaukee, which has gone 49 years since the Bucks won their only N.B.A. championship and now has no shortage of Greek Freak agita. Fans have watched Antetokounmpo blossom from a spindly-limbed teenager into one of the league’s most dynamic forces, a back-to-back winner of the N.B.A.’s Most Valuable Player Award.Now, as the days pass and the deadline to resolve his contract situation comes into sharper focus, Antetokounmpo is holding the city in a state of suspense.In hopes of convincing Antetokounmpo to stick around, Milwaukee overpaid to acquire Jrue Holiday, one of the N.B.A.’s best two-way guards.Credit…Rusty Costanza/Associated PressFrank Madden, a management consultant and longtime Bucks fan who has written and co-hosted podcasts about the team, noted how a cloud had been hanging over the franchise in recent months because of the uncertainty surrounding Antetokounmpo, a cloud that had darkened in the wake of another early exit from the playoffs.“But now we’ve reached this inflection point where it’s not just about the national media saying, ‘Does he want to leave?’” Madden said in a telephone interview. “It’s also Giannis opening the door to that — or at least not slamming it shut by signing the extension.”Much of that feeling stems from comments that Antetokounmpo made — or chose not to make — on Wednesday at a virtual news conference. In addition to revealing that he had a new collection of unused pens, Antetokounmpo was noncommittal about his extension. He said he was leaving it up to his agents.“I’m just focusing on basketball,” he said. “I do what I love. What I love is playing basketball. What I love is improving. What I love is helping my teammates. What I love is winning games. And off the court, about agents and contracts, I’m not focusing on that. Not that I don’t care about it. Obviously I care about it. It’s a very big decision in my life, and probably one of the biggest decisions I’m going to make. But I just let my agent focus on that.”Antetokounmpo has options. He could sign the supermax deal by Dec. 21. He could sign a shorter-term contract — there is no deadline for that style extension — for less money. Or he could opt not to sign anything at all, which would not necessarily preclude him from signing a supermax extension next summer.But it would also lead to several more months of questions and communal hand-wringing — for fans and for the Bucks’ front office, which would need to weigh whether the team would be willing to risk letting him walk away next summer without seeking any compensation for him in a trade.“For a guy who says he just wants to focus on basketball, it would be such a distraction,” Bart Winkler, the host of a morning sports-talk radio show in Milwaukee, said in a telephone interview. “I think we’d all been assuming, whether it was going to be a short contract or a super max, that somehow, someway, he would sign his next contract to stay in Milwaukee. And now, for the first time, there’s some real concern that he might not.”When Antetokounmpo was drafted in 2013, he was a skinny teenager from Greece who was routinely amazed by American culture. Now he is a dominant force in the league.Credit…Eirini Vourloumis for The New York TimesOther cities have gone through similar ordeals with marquee players. Consider Oklahoma City’s fractured relationship with Kevin Durant after he decided to jump to the Golden State Warriors as a free agent in 2016, or Cleveland’s more nuanced ties to LeBron James, who paralyzed that city more than once as he weighed his future.“I think it kind of comes with the territory of being a fan of a team that has an elite player,” Madden, the management consultant, said, “and doubly so if you’re following a small-market team. Unfortunately, when your team has a superstar, there’s this double-edged sword of expectations and rumors about where they may go next on the N.B.A. roulette wheel, especially given how transaction-centric the league has become. But as Bucks fans, we haven’t had to go through this pre-Giannis.”Or at least not since 1975, when the Bucks fulfilled Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s request to be traded. Abdul-Jabbar had led Milwaukee to a championship in 1970-71 but grew frustrated by the small market.Antetokounmpo is beloved in Milwaukee and across Wisconsin. The sports landscape there is still dominated by the N.F.L.’s Green Bay Packers, but Antetokounmpo has helped lift the Bucks to new levels of popularity since the team drafted him with the 15th overall pick in 2013.Beyond his talent, Antetokounmpo instantly endeared himself to fans with his charm, his humor, his community outreach and his seeming innocence. As a rookie, he delighted in tasting his first fruit smoothie. “MAN GOD BLESS AMERICA,” he wrote on Twitter, complete with a smiley face emoticon.Now, he has his own signature sneaker line with Nike. His rags-to-riches story is being made into a motion picture for Disney. And by extending his contract negotiations and deflecting questions about them, he is finally treating basketball like something other than a game: He is, in his own way, acknowledging that it is a business.The stakes could not be higher. The Bucks have finished each of the past two seasons with the league’s best regular-season record while falling short in the playoffs. In September, they were dominated by the Miami Heat in their Eastern Conference semifinal series. That was the moment when the city’s collective concern went from a simmer to a boil.During an abridged off-season, the Bucks improved their backcourt by acquiring Jrue Holiday, one of the league’s best two-way guards, from the New Orleans Pelicans. As a part of the deal, the Bucks sent the Pelicans three future first-round picks. Holiday is a terrific player but the Bucks overpaid to get him, mortgaging a big chunk of their future because they were determined to build out their roster around Antetokounmpo and, by extension, make him happier.“The bottom line for Bucks fans is we know if we don’t win a title with Giannis, we won’t have one here for a long, long time,” Winkler said. “That’s why everyone is so tense.”Complicating matters, the Bucks appeared to bungle a deal to land Bogdan Bogdanovic, a forward who wound up with the Atlanta Hawks.“Nobody wants to win a championship more than me,” Antetokounmpo said. “I can guarantee you that.”Now, as he mulls his contract, some fans face decisions of their own. Matt Aleithe, a small-business owner from just outside Milwaukee, said he was nearing a deadline to renew his season tickets for 2021-22, when arenas would presumably welcome fans back. Aleithe said he was pleased with the Bucks’ off-season moves — “The team’s better than they were at the end of last season,” he said — but he could not help but wonder whether Antetokounmpo would still be playing for them in a year.“It’s kind of a big commitment, being a season-ticket holder,” Aleithe said. “There’s just a little more angst among fans these days.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Diego Maradona Loved Basketball. Its Stars Loved Him, Too.

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storymarc stein on basketballDiego Maradona Loved Basketball. Its Stars Loved Him, Too.Maradona, the Argentine soccer legend, was a big fan of his country’s biggest N.B.A. star, Manu Ginobili. But his fandom extended to Michael Jordan and, recently, Stephen Curry.Diego Maradona was a big fan of the N.B.A., from Michael Jordan to Manu Ginobili to Stephen Curry.Credit…Massimo Sambucetti/Associated PressBy More

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      N.B.A. Free Agency Frenzy: 5 Takeaways

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storymarc stein on basketballN.B.A. Free Agency Frenzy: 5 TakeawaysA player was traded three times, and the Lakers and Clippers jockeyed for each other’s stars. But Milwaukee is still waiting for a big decision from its biggest star: Giannis Antetokounmpo.Many of the N.B.A.’s off-season questions have been answered, but not the ones being asked about Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee.Credit…Harry How/Getty ImagesBy More