{"id":605931,"date":"2026-02-16T07:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T07:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/605931\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T07:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T07:49:19","slug":"giannis-antetokounmpo-pledges-commitment-to-bucks-as-of-today-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/605931\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Antetokounmpo pledges commitment to Bucks \u2014 &#8216;as of today&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The NBA trade deadline came and went, with Giannis Antetokounmpo <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/05\/sports\/giannis-antetokounmpo-staying-with-bucks-at-nba-trade-deadline\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">still a member of the Bucks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The two-time league MVP is in Los Angeles for All-Star weekend, albeit not playing in the first-time \u201cUSA vs. the World\u201d format on Sunday <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/24\/sports\/giannis-antetokounmpo-believes-hell-be-out-4-6-weeks-with-injury\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">due to the right calf injury<\/a> that has sidelined him since Jan. 23.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with ESPN ahead of the All-Star showcase, the 31-year-old Antetokounmpo restated his commitment to Milwaukee for the rest of this season with an eye on adding another championship to the one he won in 2021.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38502574\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/milwaukee-bucks-forward-giannis-antetokounmpo-118751925.jpg\" alt=\"Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo looking for direction from the bench during a game against the Denver Nuggets.\" class=\"wp-image-38502574\"  \/>Giannis Antetokounmp is pictured during the Bucks\u2019 Jan. 11 game. AP<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs of today, I\u2019m committed to the Milwaukee Bucks,\u201d Antetokounmpo said in a sitdown with ESPN\u2019s Malika Andrews. \u201cI\u2019m committed to the people that I work with, my teammates, the coaching staff, coach Doc [Rivers] and [GM] Jon [Horst] in the front office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I\u2019ve said from the beginning of this year is that, out of my mouth and the way I\u2019ve carried myself, you will never hear me say I don\u2019t want to be a Milwaukee Buck.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, multiple reports suggested otherwise before the Feb. 5 trade deadline, with ESPN insider\u00a0Shams Charania reporting that the nine-time All-Star has been preparing to leave Milwaukee \u201cfor months,\u201d either before the deadline or in the offseason.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLegends don\u2019t chase. They attract,\u201d Antetokounmpo <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/05\/sports\/giannis-antetokounmpo-posts-wolf-of-wall-street-video-after-not-getting-traded\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">wrote in a social media post<\/a> following the trade deadline.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38502572\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/milwaukee-bucks-forward-giannis-antetokounmpo-118750332.jpg\" alt=\"Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo passes the ball as Denver Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon defends.\" class=\"wp-image-38502572\"  \/>Giannis Antetokounmpo looks to pass the ball during the Bucks\u2019 Jan. 11 game. AP<\/p>\n<p>The Bucks entered the break with a disappointing record of 23-30 and in 12th place in the East \u2014 but just 1.5 games behind the Hawks for the final spot in the 7-10 play-in tournament.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGrowing up, you dream, \u2018Oh, what if I played for the Knicks, Madison Square Garden? What if I get drafted by the Lakers and I\u2019m teammates with Kobe [Bryant]? What if I go play for the Cavs and LeBron [James] passes me the ball?&#8217;\u201d Antetokounmpo said\u00a0during the ESPN interview. \u201cBut this is my team, and I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA trade deadline came and went, with Giannis Antetokounmpo still a member of the Bucks. The two-time&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,103,123,102,121,3871,6,7218,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-605931","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-milwaukee-bucks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bucks","10":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","11":"tag-milwaukee","12":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","13":"tag-milwaukeebucks","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nba-all-star-game","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116079216755292137","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}