JULY 30TH: Antetokounmpo has officially signed his deal with the Bucks, as agent Giorgos Dimitropoulos tweets.
JULY 27TH: Giannis Antetokounmpo, whom the Bucks drafted 15th overall in this year's draft, is headed to Milwaukee and will sign his rookie-scale contract soon, tweets Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times. The Athens native, dubbed the "Greek Freak," is in line for a first-year salary of nearly $1.8MM, as our salary chart for first-rounders shows, providing he signs for the standard 120% of his scale amount.
It seemed clear soon after the draft that the Bucks had no intention of stashing the raw, 18-year-old small forward overseas, so perhaps the monthlong holdup in signing his deal has been related to Milwaukee GM John Hammond's desire to maintain flexibility in the free agent market. The Bucks have been active in the past few days, signing Miroslav Raduljica and agreeing to a contract with Gary Neal, so it seems they're ready to use their ample cap room.
Antetokounmpo spent last season with a second-division club in Greece, so NBA competition will be a significant step up. He figures to be assigned to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Milwaukee's D-League affiliate, though with five other NBA clubs sharing the Mad Ants, finding enough playing time could prove a challenge.