East Notes: Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Celtics, Heat

Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo won’t rule out the possibility of someday playing for the Bulls, though he made it clear he remains committed to the Bucks.

“I think anybody you ask that question that plays basketball, if he said no, he’d be a liar,” Antetokounmpo said, via Fox 32 Chicago. “It’s a team that won multiple championships, it’s a team that one of the greatest players, if not the greatest player to ever play this game played for. So it’s a no-brainer, everybody would love to play for Chicago. Down the line you never know, you never know how life brings it, maybe I play for Chicago, but right now I’m committed to Milwaukee.”

Antetokounmpo signed a super-max deal with the Bucks prior to last season. He won’t be eligible for free agency until 2025, when he has a player option on his contract.

Celtics

After a brief break following the Celtics’ Finals appearance, star wing Jayson Tatum is back at it, working out with trainer Drew Hanlen.

“The goal is to add strength. We’re not worried about what he weighs,” Hanlen said, via Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald. “The goal is to be stronger while continuing to move better. Another big thing is flexibility so he can play lower and continue to be stronger, stay lower.

“Another thing is cardio, so he can be in great shape with all of the minutes they need him to play. There’s a fine line, a weird line, not a black and white thing, because there are so many moving parts.”

• Second-round pick Juhann Begarin will return to France to continue to work on his development, per Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe. Begarin, 20, is 6-foot-5 and was selected with the No. 45 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.

Heat

Veteran center/forward Udonis Haslem isn’t sure whether he will return for a 20th season.

“I don’t know,” Haslem said, via Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “We’re thinking about it. But either way, I’m always going to be a part of the Heat family. I ain’t going nowhere, whether I play or not. I’m always going to impact that organization.”

Haslem, 42, does play much, but is considered a vital veteran at practice and in the locker room. He is expected to move into a coaching or front-office role with Miami upon retirement.

“I had a lot of things that I had to really, really think about,” Haslem said, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “Twenty years was a conversation that I had with my father. But as he passed, we think about now and things change. He’s not here no more and goals change, my vision has changed a little bit. But it’s still something that I battled with because it’s something that we talked about and it’s something that we wanted to do in a specific way.”