As the latest Giannis Antetokounmpo drama swirls in the background, with the Bucks under investigation and their injured superstar insisting he’s healthy enough to play, he opened up about why this has been such a “tough” year.
First, it stemmed from reports of trade discussions between Milwaukee and the Knicks — which did happen, Antetokounmpo confirmed in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
And he was also separated from his wife, Mariah, and their four children, who remained in Greece at the start of the season due to all the drama surrounding Antetokounmpo.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is pictured before the Bucks’ April 3 game. NBAE via Getty Images “Because I didn’t know how the season was going to unfold,” Antetokounmpo told the Journal-Sentinel. “There were a lot of rumors about me. There was a lot of [uncertainty] about me — from both sides.”
Antetokounmpo didn’t want to put his four children — who would reportedly help with pregame shots — in a spot “where my profession would hurt them and their lifestyle,” he told the outlet, and they all returned to Milwaukee around Thanksgiving.
But the concept of family is an important one to him, especially as he has been able to watch his brothers, Alex and Thanasis, also play for the Bucks, and he asked the Journal-Sentinel, “Do you think I don’t want to play a basketball game with my little brother?”
This season, though, with all the trade chatter swirling, Antetokounmpo has played only 36 games, averaging 27.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per contest.
He hasn’t played since March 15 — when he hyperextended his knee — and insisted to reporters that he’s ready to play, even as the Bucks claim he didn’t participate in 3-on-3 scrimmages as part of their protocol for returning.
“For somebody to come and tell me to not play or not to compete it’s like a slap in my face,” Antetokounmpo told reporters last week. “So, I don’t know where the relationship goes from there.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo is pictured during the Bucks’ March 17 game. Imagn Images “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–king play. You know what I’m saying? 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.”
There will indeed continue to be questions about his future with the only organization he has ever played for — and the one he secured a title with — in the offseason.
But in the background of all this, there has been his struggle to be away from family — something that has weighed on him seemingly as much as anything else this year.
“I don’t want security. I want to have a normal life,” Antetokounmpo told the Journal-Sentinel. “That’s one of the reasons I love Milwaukee — because it gives me that. It gives my family that.”
