{"id":700259,"date":"2026-04-05T21:36:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T21:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/700259\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T21:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T21:36:27","slug":"giannis-antetokounmpo-speaks-out-amid-feud-with-bucks-over-his-availability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/700259\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Antetokounmpo speaks out amid feud with Bucks over his availability"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the latest Giannis Antetokounmpo drama swirls in the background, with the Bucks under investigation<\/a> and their injured superstar insisting he\u2019s healthy enough to play, he opened up about why this has been such a \u201ctough\u201d year.<\/p>\n

First, it stemmed from reports of trade discussions between Milwaukee and the Knicks \u2014 which did happen, Antetokounmpo confirmed in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"GiannisGiannis Antetokounmpo is pictured before the Bucks\u2019 April 3 game. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I didn\u2019t know how the season was going to unfold,\u201d Antetokounmpo told the Journal-Sentinel. \u201cThere were a lot of rumors about me. There was a lot of [uncertainty] about me \u2014 from both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo didn\u2019t want to put his four children \u2014 who would reportedly help with pregame shots \u2014 in a spot \u201cwhere my profession would hurt them and their lifestyle,\u201d he told the outlet, and they all returned to Milwaukee around Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

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, \u201cDo you think I don\u2019t want to play a basketball game with my little brother?\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t played since March 15 \u2014 when he hyperextended his knee \u2014 and insisted to reporters that he\u2019s ready to play, even as the Bucks claim he didn\u2019t participate in 3-on-3 scrimmages as part of their protocol for returning.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor somebody to come and tell me to not play or not to compete it\u2019s like a slap in my face,\u201d Antetokounmpo told reporters last week. \u201cSo, I don\u2019t know where the relationship goes from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MilwaukeeGiannis Antetokounmpo is pictured during the Bucks\u2019 March 17 game. Imagn Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen a case of a player saying, my caliber of player, that\u2019s like, I\u2019m saying it publicly, I want to f\u2013king play. You know what I\u2019m saying? I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen this. So, if there needs to be an investigation, great. There should be. I don\u2019t know. There should be. Until we figure something out.\u201d<\/p>\n

There did indeed end up being an investigation.<\/p>\n

There will indeed continue to be questions about his future with the only organization he has ever played for \u2014 and the one he secured a title with \u2014 in the offseason.<\/p>\n

But in the background of all this, there has been his struggle to be away from family \u2014 something that has weighed on him seemingly as much as anything else this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want security. I want to have a normal life,\u201d Antetokounmpo told the Journal-Sentinel. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the reasons I love Milwaukee \u2014 because it gives me that. It gives my family that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the latest Giannis Antetokounmpo drama swirls in the background, with the Bucks under investigation and their injured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":700260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,103,123,102,121,3871,6,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-700259","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-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116354258459092879","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700259","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=700259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}