MILWAUKEE — Calling it “against my nature” to sit down out video games, Bucks ahead Giannis Antetokounmpo insisted he’s wholesome sufficient to play however is being held out by the one group he has represented in his 13-year NBA profession.
A league investigation into the matter, as first reported by The Athletic, is ongoing.
“You know who you are dealing with,” Antetokounmpo mentioned in an interview with native reporters one hour earlier than Friday’s recreation in opposition to the Boston Celtics. “So for somebody to come and tell me to not play or not to compete, it’s like a slap in my face. So, I don’t know where the relationship goes from there.”
The NBA has been trying into Antetokounmpo’s state of affairs, a supply briefed on the state of affairs tells The Athletic, and has been engaged in conversations with the Bucks. The National Basketball Players Association previously issued a statement asserting that Antetokounmpo was wholesome and being withheld from video games as a part of a tanking effort by the Bucks.
“I’ve never seen a case of a player saying, my caliber of player, that’s like — I’m saying it publicly — I want to f–-ing play. You know what I’m saying?” Antetokounmpo mentioned Friday. “I don’t think I’ve seen this. So, if there needs to be an investigation, great. There should be. I don’t know. There should be. Until we figure something out.”
Antetokounmpo has not performed since hyperextending his left knee within the Bucks’ 134-123 win over the Indiana Pacers on March 15. While the Bucks have listed him out for the final 10 video games with a bone bruise, Antetokounmpo mentioned Friday that he’s truly wholesome and has been for weeks.
“I’m available to play, but I’m not in the game,” Antetokounmpo mentioned. “I’m available to play today. Right now. I’m available. Do I look like I’m not available? … I don’t see myself in the first 12. I don’t see myself in the starting lineup.”
“I don’t know what game is being played right here, I just don’t wanna be a part of it.”
As first reported by The Athletic, the Bucks approached Antetokounmpo about getting shut down for the rest of the season, an thought the franchise’s all-time main scorer firmly rebuffed. On Friday, Antetokounmpo claimed the group has not communicated with him about the potential of returning since that first dialog.
“I had an initial conversation with who I should be talking to, which is coach Doc (Rivers) — let’s just keep it at coach Doc and (general manager) Jon (Horst) — and the initial conversation is that I want to play. And after that I’ve never had a conversation again,” Antetokounmpo mentioned. “Nobody has ever approached me (about) not playing or whatever the plan is.”
Before talking with native reporters Friday, Antetokounmpo went by way of a full pregame exercise on the Fiserv Forum ground, simply as he has executed earlier than practically each recreation since being placed on the injured listing. Dripping with sweat, the 31-year-old ahead punctuated his exercise with a loud windmill dunk earlier than chatting with coaches and teammates, together with each of his brothers, within the courtside seats.
Giannis’ older brother, Thanasis, has been his teammate for six seasons, however his youngest brother, Alex, made his NBA debut and scored his first NBA factors within the Bucks’ 123-99 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.
“I’ve heard somebody say that, ‘Oh, he says that he wants to play, but he doesn’t really want to play,’” Giannis Antetokounmpo mentioned. “First of all, I don’t know who gives you information like that … you’d be an idiot to have an opportunity to play with your brother that you’re eight years older than him.
“When I played my first NBA game, he was 11 years old. When my dad passed, I pretty much raised him. He’s able to be on the team and suit up and chase an opportunity to be great. And you really think that I don’t want to suit up and play with my brother? Anybody that thinks that is an idiot.”
The Bucks had been eradicated from postseason rivalry with their loss to the San Antonio Spurs on March 28, Antetokounmpo’s sixth consecutive recreation on the injured listing, and are assured a lottery decide. The Bucks’ choice is tied up in a swap with the Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Pelicans, with the Bucks receiving the second-highest draft decide amongst these groups.
“Do I understand the circumstances? Yes,” Antetokounmpo mentioned. “We’re not going to make the playoffs … For some people’s eyes, it’s not worth it for me to be out there. But for me, it’s something that goes against my nature, man.”
The 2025-26 season has been a making an attempt time for Antetokounmpo and the group. As the Bucks struggled for the primary time in a number of seasons, together with their NBA championship-winning marketing campaign in 2021, tensions between Antetokounmpo and the group started to develop. The Bucks even considered trade offers for their star player within the lead-up to this 12 months’s deadline earlier than electing to revisit the state of affairs in the summertime.
While Antetokounmpo didn’t deny his rising friction with the group, he insisted that this newest disagreement doesn’t essentially imply the 2 sides are heading towards a divorce, leaning closely on a wedding metaphor when providing an evidence.
“We gotta go into couples therapy,” Antetokounmpo mentioned. “Go, consultation, couples therapy, sit down, you know, tell their side, I’m going to tell my side and find a solution. Amicably. Right? That’s the word. Find a solution together.”
An answer collectively would require the group placing collectively a roster to persuade Antetokounmpo he can nonetheless contend for a championship in Milwaukee subsequent season. Antetokounmpo is eligible to signal a four-year, $275 million extension on Oct. 1.
But as Antetokounmpo was fast to notice all through Friday’s dialogue, he and the group are “definitely, definitely not on the same page” proper now.
“What are you telling me? The next time I’m going to be play basketball is October? Why? I don’t want to do that. I don’t,” Antetokounmpo mentioned. “I want to play basketball. I was born to play basketball.
“I’ve been here 13 years and I understand the team gets eliminated from the playoffs, be smart. Taking care of your body, being in and out, just to be careful, to prepare for the next season, prepare for the next generation and the young players to get some minutes, go out there — I get that. But that wasn’t the time that this took place. That’s what bothers me. It’s almost like you waved the white flag and I don’t do that. I am sorry. I don’t. And I never, never will.”
