Milwaukee Bucks

Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton is not with the team in Orlando and said Monday he tested positive for COVID-19, via Malika Andrews of ESPN:

Bucks guard Pat Connaughton, who was diagnosed with COVID-19, is not in Orlando with the team and released the following statement to ESPN and Milwaukee JS: pic.twitter.com/FCRfubq6JM

— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) July 20, 2020

The Bucks were forced to close their team facility earlier this month because of positive coronavirus tests and didn't reopen before the team traveled to the bubble for the NBA's restart. 

The squad is scheduled to have its first exhibition game on Thursday against the San Antonio Spurs before beginning seeding games on Friday, July 31.

In order to clear protocol after a positive test, a player must wait at least 14 days then have two negative tests at least 24 hours apart, a positive antibody test and a negative rapid coronavirus test, according to Andrews and Tim Bontemps of ESPN.

Milwaukee guard Eric Bledsoe is also currently out after testing positive for COVID-19, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

In addition to concern for the players' well-being, the absences could create depth question marks for the Bucks.

Connaughton is in his second season with the team, averaging 5.1 points and 4.2 rebounds per game so far this season. He has been a reliable part of the rotation with an average of 18.3 minutes in 61 appearances.

The 27-year-old appeared in all 15 games for the Bucks last postseason and was expected to get plenty of action once again this summer, but he must first clear protocols.

Voting for 2019-20 NBA performance awards will only take games played up to and including March 11 into account, per a report from Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic on Friday.

Amid news that games played as part of the NBA's restart won't count toward award voting, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer backed Bucks superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo for his second straight NBA MVP award.

Budenholzer said the following to reporters on Friday, per Eric Woodyard of ESPN:

"I had no idea that that was the case, but it makes sense. I think it was 64, 65, 66 games for different teams, so that's certainly a significant body of work, and more importantly, certainly, Giannis, in our minds, has done more than enough to deserve a back-to-back MVP.

"What he does for us on both ends of the court, what he does every night, the way he sets the bar for us, culture-wise, work ethic-wise, just as a teammate. He's an incredible teammate, plays unselfishly, does everything. And I think that's kind of what the MVP is, so we certainly feel like he's very deserving, and we'll be excited to support him."

The NBA has been suspended since March 11 because of the COVID-19 pandemic but will be making its return at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, beginning July 30. Each of the 22 teams participating will take part in eight regular-season games before a 16-team postseason to close the year.

It's hard to argue against another MVP for Antetokounmpo, who averages 29.6 points, 13.7 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game for the league-leading Bucks.

His 31.71 player efficiency rating is No. 1 in the league and well ahead of Houston Rockets guard James Harden's at No. 2 (28.39), per ESPN.

He's also an excellent defensive player as evidenced by his No. 1 defensive real plus-minus mark among qualified power forwards, per ESPN.

There doesn't seem to be much question that Antetokounmpo will win his second straight MVP if odds are to be believed.

Per Alex Kolodziej of The Score, he's a -2400 favorite to win, meaning a $2,400 bet will only net $100. The implied probability for such odds is 96 percent, per Odds Converter.

While Antetokounmpo will likely win the MVP award, he has his eyes on a much bigger prize. The Bucks are looking to win their first NBA title since the 1970-71 season.

Giannis Antetokounmpo settles into a seat in the Milwaukee Bucks' practice facility and stares into a monitor hooked into a Microsoft Teams feed. He's donning a Bucks practice shirt, cut off at the shoulders. He rubs his bowling ball-sized biceps. His lips curl into a smile as he speaks.

This is Antetokounmpo's first press conference since mid-March, his first time speaking with reporters since the COVID-19 pandemic placed the NBA season on pause.

To that point, Antetokounmpo and the Bucks had bulldozed the league. Entering the shutdown, they boasted the NBA's best defense, point differential (plus-10.7) and record (53-12). Antetokounmpo seemed destined to capture a second consecutive MVP award. And that this was all coming with him just two years from unrestricted free agency—and in the run-up to an offseason in which the Bucks could (and will) offer him a five-year supermax contract extension—only made the team's dominance feel more consequential. Even if you're not someone who believes a title is the Bucks' only chance at securing Antetokounmpo, it's hard to see how winning one wouldn't at least help their cause.

Everything seemed to be breaking Milwaukee's way. And then the NBA disappeared.

---

30 teams, 30 days: The biggest story from each NBA team ahead of the league's return.

Atl | Bos | Bkn | Cha | Chi | Cle
Dal | Den | Det | GS | Hou | Ind
LAC | LAL | Mem | Mia | Mil | Min
NO | NY | OKC | Orl | Phi | Pho
Por | Sac | SA | Tor | Uta | Was

---

During the shutdown, Antetokounmpo wasn't entirely out of the public eye, but the few glimpses he did offer into his life had little to do with basketball or the Bucks. Instead they mirrored what was taking place in the outside world. There he was in March, passing the now-endless hours at home by teaching himself the guitar; there he was in June, donning an I CAN'T BREATHE T-shirt and holding a megaphone up to his mask.

But the NBA is now on its way back, or at least it wants to be, and so here he is, at this press conference in early July, taking questions about how the sport fits into this new reality. He seems happy, the way any of us do when offered a reminder of life before the pandemic. It's not normalcy, but in 2020, it's about as close as you'll find.

Antetokounmpo laughs. He offers long, thought-out answers. He says he used his time off to get stronger. He says he thinks the team's chemistry will help it thrive in the bubble. He sounds enthusiastic. He projects confidence.

But there's also this:

"You're in a tough position, because obviously we've worked—I've worked personally seven years, and the team has worked all season long—to be in the position to go out there and win a championship," he says. "And then just, that being taken away from you. That's kind of hard."

A few minutes later, he comes to talking about the team's lost home-court advantage, and it hits him again:

"It kind of...it sucks."

---

They were so close last year. It's easy to forget that now, given how things ended.

They'd spent the season thumping opponents. New head coach Mike Budenholzer's decision to install a five-out scheme had transformed Antetokounmpo into an uncontainable force. The foundation of the attack was simple: Give the ball to Antetokounmpo at the top of the key, spread the floor with shooting and let him go one-on-one. If no help came, he'd muscle his way to the rim. If help was sent, the ball would be swung to the open man. Opponents had no answers.

The Bucks reeled off an NBA-best 60 wins during the regular season. They swept the Detroit Pistons in the playoffs' first round. They bludgeoned the Boston Celtics in the second. They took the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals from the Toronto Raptors.

But before Game 3, tired of watching Antetokounmpo pummel his team, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse tweaked his defense. Recognizing that allowing Antetokounmpo to comfortably operate, and then dictate, was foolish, he instructed his players to shade off Antetokounmpo's teammates and pack the paint. He wanted Antetokounmpo to see at least one help defender stationed between him and the hoop every time he held the ball, to feel their defense at every turn, to be rushed and swarmed.

The bet was twofold: One was that the rest of the Bucks, despite the team's sweet shooting all season, weren't capable of carrying the load. The other was that Antetokounmpo didn't possess the passing skills to punish this sort of scheme.

"They were really the first team to play him like that and to that extreme," Bucks assistant coach Ben Sullivan says. "They had two to three guys, helping only on him, making sure he couldn't get where he wanted to go."

The tactic worked. The Raptors hung on for a double-overtime Game 3 win and then took the next three games too. Crowds, it turned out, could fluster Antetokounmpo. The Bucks, it turned out, didn't have much of a response. Not only did Antetokounmpo spend the rest of the series fruitlessly launching himself into a wall of Raptors defenders—he averaged 20.5 points in Games 3 through 6 and finished just 43.5 percent of his shots, a nearly 15 percent plunge from his regular-season mark—but the players the Raptors shaded off of failed to convert their open looks. The team's offense, which scored an explosive 113.5 points per 100 possessions during the regular season, sputtered, racking up just 99.4 points per 100 possessions in the 159 minutes Antetokounmpo played.

"Guys were expecting to win that series," Bucks guard Sterling Brown says.

After the season, Antetokounmpo spent time reviewing the film. "I don't want to get to that same point again and have that same defense work," he told Sullivan over the summer. He and Budenholzer had conversations about ways both men could adjust.

Many teams would have overhauled their offensive system. Or at least spent the offseason, and then regular season, exploring new options.

The Bucks took a different approach.

---

Budenholzer loves the phrase "corporate knowledge." He picked it up in San Antonio, where he spent nearly two decades as an assistant to Gregg Popovich. The idea is that, as a team, you pinpoint your strengths, and then the way you want to play, and you stick with it, never overreacting to results—and through that continuity you gain comfort and skills within the system and, through that, an advantage.

After last season's loss, the Bucks faced a choice. Budenholzer and his staff reviewed film from the Raptors series. They spotted some holes here and there, but their overarching reaction was that in many ways the defeat was a result of bad luck, of Bucks shooters missing too many clean looks. They also reminded themselves that, prior to the previous season, this Bucks team had never made it past the playoffs' first round. And anyway, the list of NBA champions was littered with teams that had initially failed.

In other words: There was no need for an overhaul. Another year together meant more corporate knowledge. Everyone in the organization would be better at what they did. There was no shortcut to winning a title, but the power of corporate knowledge could help close the gap.

Early in the season, this belief looked misguided. In their first nine games, the Bucks regressed from their 2018-19 marks in field-goal percentage, three-point percentage, free-throw percentage, assist-to-turnover ratio and winning percentage—not exactly encouraging for a team with championship aspirations. They had elected not to re-sign starting guard Malcolm Brogdon and missed his shooting and off-the-dribble punch. "We had some new players and roles," Brown says. "It took some time for everything to click."

But by the middle of the season, everything, and everyone, had settled into place. Wesley Matthews smothered opponents. George Hill caught fire from deep (48 percent). Pat Connaughton, in his second season with Milwaukee after starting his career in Portland, emerged as a starting-caliber wing. Khris Middleton became a mid-range assassin—hitting 49.9 percent on all field goals in addition to his 41.8 of threes and 90.8 of free throws, a shooting season that nearly puts him in the rarified 50-40-90 club with all-time greats like Steve Nash and Larry Bird.

Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, bolstered and diversified his game. He upped his scoring output and assist rate. He began taking—and even occasionally hitting—jump shots. He polished his post moves. His passing numbers are the same, but he's made a point of being more precise against double-teams.

"Every year he just learns the game even more," Middleton says.

Meanwhile, the foundation of it all remained untouched. "They play basically the same way they did last season," a rival scout says. On offense, the Bucks still rely on isolations, launch a ton of threes and mostly eschew pick-and-rolls. On defense, they still concede three-pointers and rely on Brook Lopez's interior mastery to wall off the paint. And they do it all brilliantly.

They hadn't lost two games in a row all season until Antetokounmpo missed a pair in early March with a minor knee injury, and even then they were well on their way to earning home-court advantage for the entire postseason, a boon for a team that had gone 28-3 while playing in front of its home crowd.

Then the pandemic arrived, bringing the season—and all the momentum the Bucks had accrued—to a sudden halt.

"I think we're as much as possible going to pick things up from where we left off," Budenholzer says, "but at the same time know that we haven't played basketball for two-and-a-half, three months."

He adds, "We know we've got a long ways to go and a lot of work ahead of us."

---

There are so, so many questions left to answer. Will Budenholzer's trust in the Bucks system be proved right? Will Antetokounmpo have a response for when he encounters a Raptors-like wall? Will the Bucks secondary scorers—most notably Eric Bledsoe—come through? How will Middleton adapt to all the coverages playoff defenses throw at a team's No. 2 option? Will any of this impact Antetokounmpo's free-agency decision?

Will the games even take place?

Four days after Antetokounmpo's early July press conference, a positive COVID-19 test within the organization would force the Bucks to shut down their facility. They would cease all training, not resuming until July 12, in the bubble.

If things go as planned from here, and the league does resume, the Bucks will do so as the clear favorites to come out of the East—and, to many, the league's best title bet. But such things matter little to Antetokounmpo, who knows he's about to embark on a journey unlike any the NBA has ever seen. To be the star of a championship-or-bust team is hard enough. Add in the unpredictable format and the loneliness that comes with being sequestered from family and friends and the ticking clock of free agency looming over it all, and you have a mixture that could break even the strongest of groups.

"I feel like at the end of the day," Antetokounmpo says, "this is gonna be the toughest championship you could ever win."

     

Yaron Weitzman covers the NBA for Bleacher Report and is the author of Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports. Follow Yaron on Twitter, @YaronWeitzman.

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Milwaukee Bucks guard Eric Bledsoe tested positive for COVID-19, he told Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. 

Per Haynes, Bledsoe said he's "not feeling any symptoms, and he really feels good. And he is hoping that he'll get [to Disney] as soon as possible, as soon as he fulfills all the NBA's protocols."  

Eric Bledsoe says he tested positive for COVID-19 but has no symptoms, per @ChrisBHaynes https://t.co/7ChaALSex6

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 17, 2020

Bledsoe also posted the following on Instagram:

A PSA from Eric Bledsoe via Instagram: pic.twitter.com/QhUnSQDPic

— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) July 17, 2020

Bledsoe, 30, is a key figure for the Bucks, averaging 15.4 points, 5.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds while shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from three. He serves as the team's starting point guard, and if he's forced to miss time during the league's restart at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, it will be a major blow.

The Bucks hold the league's top record at 53-12 and are two wins away from clinching the top overall seed in the Eastern Conference, so they're set up to weather such a storm. The bigger concern would be if his potential absence drifts into the postseason. 

The Bucks do have a solid backup in George Hill, who has plenty of experience in the postseason, so they are in good hands at point guard. And superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo often serves as the de facto ball-handler in the team's offense anyway.

Donte DiVincenzo may also see some minutes at point guard off the bench if Bledsoe misses game time. 

Regardless of how the Bucks handle a potential absence, one thing is certain: It's title or bust for Milwaukee this season, and Antetokounmpo is ready for the challenge.

"I want to be one of the best players to ever play the game," he said earlier in July, per Eric Woodyard of ESPN. "I did the best job I could do trying to stay ready and trying to have my team ready for this journey that we're about to go on to leave and play games. But as I said, whoever wants it more, whoever is mentally prepared for all this, what's going on in Orlando, that's the team that's gonna come out on top."

With Giannis Antetokounmpo set to hit free agency in 2021, the next year will see plenty of players and coaches try to convince the superstar to join their team.

Still, Milwaukee Bucks general manager Jon Horst hasn't given any thought about other recruiting efforts for the forward, per Eric Woodyard of ESPN:

"Zero. We can only control what we can control. If it's considered tampering or recruiting or whatever it is, in our league people talk, people are connected, people have relationships. At the end of the day, I have full confidence in my personal relationship, our league's relationship, our coach's relationship, his teammate's relationship with Giannis in what we're doing and what we're about."

Antetokounmpo will be eligible to sign a supermax extension with the Bucks worth $253.75 million over five years.

Things have gone well for him in Milwaukee, as he won MVP last season and is the front-runner to repeat. The Bucks also head into the restart in Orlando with the best record in the NBA at 53-12.

However, Antetokounmpo could hear a number of pitches looking ahead.

"Considering the Bucks are sharing 'The Gran Destino Tower' with the Lakers, Raptors, Clippers, Celtics, Nuggets, Jazz and Heat, they may want to keep an eye out for rival executives who will have every opportunity to wander his way," Sam Amick of The Athletic wrote.

Teams like the Heat and Raptors have been keeping cap space open for a top 2021 free agent like Giannis, per Shams Charania of The Athletic. And according to Steve Popper of Newsday, teams are also considering hiring Jason Kidd as a head coach with the hope of luring Antetokounmpo in free agency.

The 25-year-old can shift the NBA landscape with his decision.

Horst clearly realizes there is competition, but he is only focusing on his own team.

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said Monday he will have "Equality" written on the back of his jersey during the restarted NBA season in Orlando. 

The NBA announced earlier this month it will allow players to put messages related to social justice on their jerseys, helping them use their platform for change amid worldwide protests against racial injustice.

The league and NBPA agreed upon a limited list of options, including "Black Lives Matter," "I Can't Breath," and "Say Her Name."

The league also plans to paint "Black Lives Matter" on the courts at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Several players are taking advantage of the messages on their jerseys, with Rudy Gobert also choosing "Equality," while Damian Lillard will put "How Many More?" on his back, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Antetokounmpo will participate as he continues to use his platform to discuss social issues.

The reigning MVP has spoken about injustice on social media and took part in a protest in Milwaukee last month along with teammates.

"We want change, we want justice, and that's why we're out here," he told a crowd in June, per Ben Steele of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "That's what we're going to do today. That's why I'm going to march with you."

LeBron James notably chose not to put a message on his jersey, saying it "didn't really seriously resonate with my mission," per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

Milwaukee Bucks guard Kyle Korver has chosen to wear "Black Lives Matter" on the back of his jersey during the NBA's restart at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Korver and the rest of the players on the 22 teams taking part in the league's restart have the option to put one of 29 different messages on the back of their jerseys, and they are the following, per Dan Woike and Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times:

"'Black Lives Matter,' 'I Can't Breathe,' 'Vote,' 'Justice,' 'Stand Up,' 'Listen,' 'Listen to Us,' 'Say Their Names,' 'Peace,' 'How Many More,' 'Education Reform,' 'Liberation,' 'Equality,' 'Freedom,' 'Enough,' Si Se Puede,' 'Say Her Name,' 'Mentor,' 'I Am A Man,' 'Speak Up,' 'Ally,' 'Anti-Racist,' 'Justice Now,' 'Power to the People,' 'See Us,' 'Hear Us,' 'Respect Us,' 'Love Us,' and 'Group Economics.'"

Portland Trail Blazers center Zach Collins is also looking to put "Black Lives Matter" on the back of his jersey, per AJ McCord of KOIN on Thursday.

As Haynes noted, Korver penned an article for the Players' Tribune in April in which he discussed his white privilege and the inequalities that Black Americans face daily:

"The fact that black Americans are more than five times as likely to be incarcerated as white Americans is wrong. The fact that black Americans are more than twice as likely to live in poverty as white Americans is wrong. The fact that black unemployment rates nationally are double that of overall unemployment rates is wrong. The fact that black imprisonment rates for drug charges are almost six times higher nationally than white imprisonment rates for drug charges is wrong. The fact that black Americans own approximately one-tenth of the wealth that white Americans own is wrong."

Korver also discussed an incident with his then-Atlanta Hawks teammate Thabo Sefolosha, who was the victim of police brutality in New York City in April 2015.

Korver wrote:

"A few months later, a jury found Thabo not guilty on all charges. He settled with the city over the NYPD's use of force against him. And then the story just sort of..... disappeared. It fell away from the news. Thabo had surgery and went through rehab. Pretty soon, another NBA season began—and we were back on the court again.

"Life went on.

"But I still couldn't shake my discomfort."

Two months later, Korver spoke with ex-Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Richard Jefferson and said that he would sit out the NBA's restart in July if his teammates felt they could better accomplish change via the ongoing social justice moment by choosing not to participate:

https://twitter.com/TheNBACentral/status/1272997101710999552

Korver and the Bucks will be participating in the restart, which will begin July 30. The Bucks are the No. 1 overall seed in the Eastern Conference and hold the NBA's best record.

The Milwaukee Bucks closed their practice facility "after receiving results of a Friday round of coronavirus testing," according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Wojnarowski reported the Bucks are expected to keep the facility closed until after they travel to Orlando, Florida, on Thursday for the resumption of the 2019-20 NBA season.

ESPN's Tim Bontemps laid out the details of the NBA's COVID-19 protocol to prepare for the "bubble" at Walt Disney World Resort.

The process is laid out over six phases. Phase 2 began on June 23, at which point players would be tested for the coronavirus every other day. The NBA announced it had registered nine new positive tests out of 344 players from June 24 to 29 and 10 tests from 884 team staff members from June 23 to 29.

With the start of Phase 3 this past Wednesday, players were required to attend individual workouts at their respective team facilities.

Wojnarowski reported on June 30 the Denver Nuggets were closing their facilities because two members of their 35-person traveling party tested positive for COVID-19. Ethan J. Skolnick of Five Reasons Sports Network reported the Miami Heat were taking the same step after a positive test was flagged.

According to Wojnarowski, the Brooklyn Nets temporarily shuttered their practice facility as well last month. Nets stars DeAndre Jordan and Spencer Dinwiddie confirmed they had tested positive for COVID-19.

The Bucks own the NBA's best record (53-12) and Giannis Antetokounmpo could potentially capture his second straight Most Valuable Player award, making Milwaukee one of the top favorites to win the 2020 Finals.

Caesars Palace lists the Bucks' championship odds at +275 (bet $100 to win $275), the second-best behind only the Los Angeles Lakers (+180).

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo believes the circumstances of the NBA season will add to the achievement of winning the title, rather than devalue the accomplishment.

"This is going to be the toughest championship you could ever win," the reigning MVP told reporters Wednesday.

Houston Rockets guard Austin Rivers told Bleacher Report's Taylor Rooks he thought the 2020 champion should receive an asterisk but to connote the same thing Antetokounmpo expressed.

I talked to Austin Rivers about whether or not this NBA Champion will have an asterisk next to their name. This was his response: pic.twitter.com/Pn1EuVLP7p

— Taylor Rooks (@TaylorRooks) July 1, 2020

Celtics head coach Brad Stevens echoed those thoughts, per the Boston Globe's Nicole Yang: "The idea of an asterisk next to this championship—[Rivers] said it exactly right. This is going to be a super unique situation, and whoever wins it is going to really earn it."

One could argue a player in Antetokounmpo's position has a vested interest in playing up the implications of winning the 2020 Finals.

The Bucks have the league's best record (53-12) and are a top title contender. Caesars Palace lists Milwaukee (+275) with the second-best championship odds behind the Los Angeles Lakers (+180).

Were the Bucks to lift the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy, Antetokounmpo wouldn't want to see people downplay or minimize the work they put in to make it happen.

That said, his comments also speak to the reality of an unprecedented situation in the NBA.

Players are being asked to restart a season after not playing for months without a firm idea of when they might take the court again. In addition, they'll be playing in empty arenas at a neutral location when the games resume July 30.

And the coronavirus pandemic will cast a shadow over everything that happens.

Brooklyn Nets center DeAndre Jordan announced Monday he has tested positive for COVID-19 and won't make the trip to Orlando, Florida. When teams arrive in Orlando, there's the chance of more positive tests, further disrupting the proceedings.

There is reportedly some thinking that whichever team hires Jason Kidd as a head coach could have an inside track on potentially landing Giannis Antetokounmpo when he hits free agency. 

According to Steve Popper of Newsday, some teams around the league believe Kidd could be a "link" to the reigning MVP. Popper also noted Kidd would be interested in the New York Knicks job.

Marc Stein of the New York Times reported the Knicks received permission from the Los Angeles Lakers to interview Kidd, who is an assistant with the Purple and Gold, for their head coaching vacancy.

Antetokounmpo is under contract with the Milwaukee Bucks through the 2020-21 season.

The four-time All-Star played for Kidd when the latter was the head coach in Milwaukee from 2014-15 until he was fired in January 2018. The Hall of Fame point guard finished with a 139-152 record with the Bucks, leading them to the playoffs twice.

"He's a big part of my success in the league," Antetokounmpo told reporters when publicly speaking about Kidd in 2018 for the first time since the firing. "I'm loyal to the people I work with. I love him as a person. I care about him as a person."

Giannis is one of the few elite players who could instantly turn the Knicks around just by signing there, especially given their status as one of the league's worst teams.

New York has won one playoff series since it reached the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals and finished the 2019-20 campaign with a 21-45 record, failing to earn an invite to Orlando, Florida, for the season's restart plan. It has finished with a losing record in each of the last seven seasons.

Popper believes the Knicks position is still Tom Thibodeau's "job to lose" and also thinks Antetokounmpo will remain with the Bucks, but he suggested underestimating the relationship between Kidd and Giannis would be a mistake when it comes to factors teams will consider when making their coaching decisions.

Ian Begley of SNY reported Kidd is one of many candidates the Knicks plan on interviewing.

They also plan on interviewing current interim head coach Mike Miller, Dallas Mavericks assistant Jamahl Mosley, San Antonio Spurs assistant Will Hardy, Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Brown, Chicago Bulls assistant Chris Fleming, Philadelphia 76ers assistant Ime Udoka, Orlando Magic assistant Pat Delany and former NBA head coaches Mike Woodson, Thibodeau and Kenny Atkinson.