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Jon Horst on Damian Lillard buyout: We looked at the opportunity to acquire a highly productive, elite free agent, who is in the prime of his career, and who is an incredible fit next to Giannis, as an opportunity for these next two seasons in particular, instead of what would have been Dame on our books at a full salary, as really opportunistic, more than anything.
Jon Horst: The carry for the following three years, there’s no question that if you want to call it an impediment or another hurdle, that’s fine. But we were dealing with a really big hurdle and complication that we had to figure out how to deal with now, and the now matters more than anything. Maximizing Giannis’ prime, our opportunities to win, I feel like that’s our responsibility always. So it was really a now versus future decision. That being said, Myles is an incredible player in the prime of his career for four years. So four of those five years, we have Myles Turner, so it wasn’t like we just did something now and then we have to take four years of risk beyond this year and four years of carry without any production. We have four years, at least, of Myles Turner at elite production while that’s on our books. And there (are) other things that we did, there (are) other moves that we made, other players we’re able to acquire because of this move now that I believe will outweigh the carry of the 20-plus million dollars that we have.
Jon Horst: Have we done enough? We’ve done everything, I’ve done everything within my human possible power this offseason. I feel like our group works our butts off. I’ve got to shout out Dave Dean, Ryan Hoover, Milt Newton, Pat Haneman, Samer Jassar, David Mincberg, and Arjun Mahendroo, the whole group, we do everything we can to get better. We do everything we can to put the next version of this thing out there, to give Doc and Giannis and Bobby and Scoot (Kevin Porter Jr.) and the guys on our team every chance that they can to win every night. And so have we done enough? I don’t know. We’ll find out. Have we done everything that we possibly could? Absolutely. And have we done more than anyone else could possibly do? I believe we have. And that’s not an arrogant thing to say. In a very humble way. I think we’ve done as much or more than anyone else could possibly do, and I’m proud of that.
Jon Horst: I think the reason why I still love working with Doc and I’m excited to work with Doc is because I think we have a chance to win with Doc. I think he’s a championship-level coach. He’s the right coach to get us to where we want to go. We haven’t had the results yet in our two years together that we wanted. But it’s been two of the most adversity-filled seasons that I’ve been part of. And we’ve had two really successful regular seasons. To go through the things that we went through, if people actually look at the facts of what we went through over two years — we still finished with a fifth seed and a third seed. Near 50 wins in both seasons. And then we lost to the team that lost in the conference finals two years ago and the team that lost in Game 7 of the finals this year. We lost to a really, really good Indiana Pacers organization that deserves everything that they’ve got. I mean, that team had an unbelievable two-year run and they beat everybody; they didn’t just beat us.
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Bucks want to give Giannis Antetokounmpo more touches, more creative responsibility
"What makes Giannis comfortable here? One thing that they have pitched him on is having the ball in his hands a lot more next season. He played with a guy like Damian—brother, he ain’t going nowhere. He’s a dog. Anytime I see him playing basketball, everybody’s smiling. He’s good vibes. I don’t think there’s going to be any surprise if Thanasis might be on this team again. But they’re telling Giannis: we’ll give you more control, more touches, more creation responsibility. They believe they can compete in the Eastern Conference. Whether that’s true or not, that’s what they’re selling him. You essentially take somewhat of a gap year, retool this team, and push again next year. From my understanding, Jon Horst and Doc Rivers genuinely believe this team can make a run, especially if Giannis fully buys in. Whether that’s enough to satisfy him—we’ll see. But that’s the Bucks’ pitch. Recommit anOd lead this team for one more run while the front office works around the edges."
Amick: Bucks GM going for blood in Giannis Antetokounmpo trade discussions
Sam Amick: You know what I mean? Like, they want every scenario to gut the other team. And Jon Horst is going to go for blood here, I'm telling you. He just got a new extension. He has the organization's backing. Jon is not going to just try to be on good terms with Giannis—he's trying to do right by the Bucks. And that means that if every scenario in play leaves the other team so gutted that Giannis might not actually be in that much better of a situation, then maybe that's where he looks at the room and says, "All right, let me stay put."
Well, according to a source, Bob Myers does indeed want to come to Phoenix. He was not the only well-respected candidate that has expressed interest in joining the Suns front office over the last few days either, and Rankin identified Jon Horst as one of those before the Milwaukee Bucks GM agreed to an extension.
Sam Amick: Now that John Horst has a new contract, I can share this part: I wrote in a story that Giannis alluded to the GM. Well, the "alluded" part was this—he literally looked at John, looked at me, and said: “Sam, if we don’t win…” (Then he drew his finger across his throat.) Yeah, and just to be clear—they have a good relationship. Giannis was being playful. But he also understands that his presence means one thing: “We better be contending for titles—or it’s going to get ugly.” So I think this new deal for Horst is the organization ensuring stability. He’s the guy who helped draft Giannis, and now’s not the time for front-office turbulence. But we’ll see where it goes from here.
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Bucks, Jon Horst agree to multiyear contract extension
Shams Charania: The Milwaukee Bucks and general manager Jon Horst have agreed to a multiyear contract extension, sources tell ESPN. The Bucks and Horst's agent, Brian Elfus, reached a new deal this week for the NBA championship executive and one-time exec of the year before his contract expired.
Shams Charania: The Bucks have made the playoffs in all eight of Horst's seasons as GM and have a .647 win percentage, second-best in the NBA during that span, per ESPN Research. Horst, 42, started in basketball operations roles in Milwaukee and Detroit before being promoted to Bucks GM in 2017.
Marc Stein: The Arizona Republic's @DuaneRankin just added to our report yesterday on the Suns' interest in trying to lure Bob Myers back to front-officing. More here from us: https://tinyurl.com/4fm6faxj Rankin also reports Phoenix has interest in Milwaukee's Jon Horst. Have heard the same.
Milwaukee Bucks: “We’re thrilled for Dame,” said Bucks General Manager Jon Horst. “Our priority has always been Dame’s health. We’re grateful to our medical team for diagnosing and treating his DVT at an early stage, and for the world-renown hematology specialists at Mayo Clinic. Every step of Dame’s recovery has been at the direction of world-class medical professionals and their specific and strict protocols that have allowed for Dame’s safe and healthy return to play.”
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