NBA Notes: Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Cavs, Mavs

Bucks

Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer has been taking in some games at the EuroBasket tournament, mostly those involving Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece.

“It’s incredibly important to us that Giannis is taking care of himself and not just for us, but for the Greek team in future competitions. We just want him to have a long and healthy career and the federation has been great,” Budenholzer said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “(Greek national team general manager) Nikos Zizis, he’s been great. Coach (Dimitris) Itoudis has been awesome. Getting to know them the last few days has been great. Having Josh (Oppenheimer) on the coaching staff. (Head of strength and conditioning) Suki (Hobson) has been here a lot, (physical therapists) Andrew (Small) and Brett (Bousquet) too.”

• Bucks owner Marc Lasry, GM Jon Horst and small forward Khris Middleton all took in Greece’s EuroBasket game in Milan, Italy, to support star Antetokounmpo, according to Dionysis Aravantinos of HoopsHype and EuroHoops.
• The Bucks are among the teams interested in Jazz point guard Mike Conley Jr., per Brett Siegel of SI.com. Conley is among the Utah players who are believed to be available following the Donovan Mitchell trade with the Cavs.

Cavs

The Cavaliers are open to a reunion with LeBron James at some point, but definitely not at any cost, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com said on the HoopsHype podcast with Michael Scotto.

“I think they’d be open to it on their own terms, under the right terms,” Fedor said. “Terms that are very different from the ones he came back to in 2014. When you acquire LeBron, there are a lot of things that go with that. He wants power. He wants to help make decisions over the roster and people that are hired within the organization.

“He wants to be at the center of everything and have a team built around his strengths and things along those lines. The Cavaliers would not sign up for that kind of situation. They feel good about what they have here, especially with the addition of Donovan Mitchell. Back in 2014, they needed a savior and needed LeBron to come back and take them to a different level.”

James agreed to a two-year contract extension with the Lakers in mid-August, meaning he likely wouldn’t be eligible to return to the Cavs until the brink of his 40th birthday.

• The Cavs and Caris LeVert are in no hurry to work out a contract extension, as we relayed here.

Mavericks

• The Mavericks are contemplating adding another veteran ballhandler to the roster, per Marc Stein of The Stein Line. That said, they could also leave the 15th roster spot open for “in-season flexibility,” Stein wrote.
• New acquisition Christian Wood should add some punch to the Mavs’ offense, and serve as a nice complement to star Luka Doncic, wrote NBA.com’s John Schumann.