Simp Giannis Antetokounmpo Unfollows His Teammates After Being Exposed in the Playoffs

Simp Giannis Antetokounmpo Unfollows His Teammates After Being Exposed in the Playoffs

Before you ask: No, Giannis Antetokounmpo will not be requesting a trade this offseason. At least, that's what he told Yahoo! Sports' Chris Haynes after his league-best Milwaukee Bucks fell in a gentleman's sweep to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semifinals, a legendary upset given Milwaukee's regular-season dominance. "It’s not happening. That’s not happening,” he told Haynes. "Some see a wall and go in [another direction]. I plow through it. We just have to get better as a team, individually and get right back at it next season."' An inspiring sentiment, especially for the Milwaukee faithful. But if that refrain sounds familiar, it's because a number of past superstars have echoed it before promptly fleeing for greener pastures. Antetokounmpo repeated another disgruntled star trope the weekend after the Bucks' elimination, when he allegedly unfollowed all of his teammates (except for his brother Thanasis) on Instagram, including the Bucks' team account. Upon further examination, it's true. Giannis now follows just eight accounts from his Instagram: His brothers Thanasis, Kostas, Ofili and Alex; his mother Vero-Charles; an account for his dog Mila; his and his brothers' YouTube channel, AntetokounBros TV; and his girlfriend Mariah's lifestyle blog. This probably means nothing. Giannis deciding to limit his Instagram circle to his immediate family is something he's well within his rights to do. And in fact, most of us could stand to be more economical with our social media use. But the optics are inescapable, and that's something he had to have known before embarking on the unfollowing spree. If the rumor mill around his upcoming free agency in the 2021 offseason (or a possible trade before then) wasn't whirring at warp speed already, it certainly is now. Again, all we can reasonably do is take Giannis at his public word: He doesn't intend to ask out of Milwaukee for the time being. And the Bucks would be foolish to willingly part with a generational talent — for whom receiving a proportional return via trade would be impossible — without exhausting every avenue to push the team further toward title contention in his contract year. But Antetokounmpo's faith will soon be tested. Whenever the NBA offseason begins, the Bucks will be able to offer Giannis a designated veteran player extension — colloquially termed the "supermax" — which would kick in for the 2021-22 season, and far exceed what any other suitors on the market can match. Precise projections of what that supermax will look like aren't really possible to make until the league negotiates and modifies the current CBA in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the designated veteran player extension starts at 35 percent of the league's salary cap, with eight percent annual increases. The most any other team will be able to offer Giannis is a contract starting at 30 percent of the league's salary cap, also with eight percent annual increases. https://sports.yahoo.com/giannis-antetokounmpos-instagram-unfollow-spree-224012984.html

Oshay Duke Jackson