They’re headed to Las Vegas, the Milwaukee Bucks. Tuesday night’s In-Season Tournament quarterfinal matchup between Milwaukee and the New York Knicks saw the Bucks easily defeat the Knicks 146-122, setting up a meeting with the Indiana Pacers later this week. This was made possible by an outstanding offensive performance.
As is usually the case when the Bucks perform well, Giannis Antetokounmpo had a stellar performance. The former NBA MVP destroyed the frontcourt of New York, finishing with 35 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals in 34 minutes of play. Following the game, he found out something that pleased him quite a bit: his team’s success has brought him a sizable amount of change.
It’s unclear whether Antetokounmpo only believed he would be compensated for winning the entire competition, or if he was unaware of the full amount of prize money awarded to teams participating in the In-Season Tournament. The NBA is offering players incentives for the new competition: $50,000 if they make it to the quarterfinals, $100,000 if they advance to the semifinals, $200,000 if they make it to the championship game, and $500,000 if they are on the winning team.
In any case, Giannis has some extra cash thanks to this, and although we’re not sure what he’ll do with it, we do know where it will go in the event that he wins big at the roulette table.