Examining 2021 NBA Free Agent Class After Giannis' $228.2M Bucks Contract

The once-loaded NBA free-agent class of 2021 has taken a huge hit in the past week with several marquee players agreeing to contract extensions with their current teams. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the latest superstar who will stay put, announcing on Tuesday he will sign a five-year extension with the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Alex Saratsis, Antetokounmpo's agent, told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski the extension is worth $228 million and includes an opt-out after the fourth season. 

Antetokounmpo's extension, combined with LeBron James adding two years to his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers and Paul George signing a supermax deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, takes three of the top stars from next summer's class off the board. 

Here's what the 2021 free-agent market could look like as things stand:

• Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers (contract includes opt out after 2020-21 season)
• Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz (unrestricted free agent)
• Victor Oladipo, Indiana Pacers (unrestricted free agent)
• Jrue Holiday, Milwaukee Bucks (contract includes opt out after 2020-21 season)
• Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors (unrestricted free agent)
• Chris Paul, Phoenix Suns (contract includes opt out after 2020-21 season)
• DeMar DeRozan, San Antonio Spurs (unrestricted free agent)
• Mike Conley, Utah Jazz (unrestricted free agent)
• LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs (unrestricted free agent)
• Goran Dragic, Miami Heat (contract includes team option for 2021-22 season)

With James and Antetokounmpo off the board, Kawhi Leonard becomes the most intriguing game-changing free agent in the summer of 2021. 

Leonard does have a player option for the 2021-22 season, so it's possible he could stay put if he chooses. This also casts a huge cloud over the Los Angeles Clippers this season coming off what was reportedly a chaotic situation in 2019-20 for the franchise. 

Jovan Buha of The Athletic wrote on Dec. 2 that Clippers players were unhappy with the preferential treatment given to Leonard and George last season:

"If there was one dynamic that showed the issues with some of the preferential treatment the Clippers conceded to Leonard and Paul George last season, and how it affected both other players and staffers, it was Leonard’s pregame privacy request. ... 

"But according to multiple league sources, the perks the Clippers gave Leonard and George began to compromise the standard of the culture they had built over the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons—the very culture that the Clippers used, in part, to attract Leonard and George to Los Angeles."

Despite what happened last season, Leonard remains one of the NBA's best players. He averaged 27.1 points, 7.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game for a Clippers team that finished with the second-best record in the Western Conference. 

Leonard is one year removed from being NBA Finals MVP after leading the Toronto Raptors to a championship. The four-time All-Star should still be in his prime for a few more years, as he turns 30 on June 29. 

The 2021 class will look a lot better at the top if Victor Oladipo returns to the form he showed prior to rupturing the quad tendon in his right knee during a game in January 2019. The Indiana Pacers star was clearly limited this year, averaging just 14.5 points on 39.4 percent shooting in 19 regular-season games. 

Oladipo made two consecutive All-Star teams prior to the injury. He averaged a career-high 23.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game during the 2017-18 season. 

Rudy Gobert is the other prime free agent, though his upside is limited because he's a traditional big man.  The French star is one of the most impactful defensive players in the NBA and is a capable scorer in the paint. He's averaged at least 15 points per game in each of the past two seasons. 

Beyond that trio, though, there are a lot of players over the age of 30 that teams will be looking at. Jrue Holiday's future is uncertain because we don't yet know how he will fit into Mike Budenholzer's system with the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Kyle Lowry (35 on March 25), DeMar DeRozan (32 on Aug. 7), Chris Paul (36 on May 6) and Mike Conley (34 on Oct. 11) are the best of the over-30 group outside of Leonard and Holiday. Paul is the only one with the option of remaining with his current team if he opts in to the $44.2 million he's owed in 2021-22. 

Even though some of the drama has been taken away from the summer of 2021, there's still going to be plenty of significant player movement after this season. Many things will change for stars and teams once games get going, as is always the case in the NBA whenever we think we have the league figured out.