Giannis throws down: 'We’re fighting for our lives and we gotta get our hands dirty'
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Sam Amick
His late windmill may have been an affront to basketball decorum, but to Giannis Antetokounpo, it was an absolute necessity.
Finally.
After all the sloppy messaging from Giannis Antetokounmpo these past few months, with the Milwaukee star losing control of his own narrative while his Bucks kept losing games, this was easy to understand. That ferocious final statement in the closing seconds of Saturday night’s 112-103 win in Chicago — a windmill worthy of the dunk contest that left the Bulls seeing red as the final buzzer sounded — was uniquely Giannis in every way.
Defiance defined. Dominance on display. Competitive, at times, to a fault.
For anyone wondering if Antetokounmpo felt an ounce of shame about his dunk against the Bulls, it should be noted that he posted a celebratory picture of it on social media later in the evening. Giannis has never been above pettiness — always willing to poke a fellow bear. And even with all the recent struggles, it should not be forgotten that the 31-year-old could retire tomorrow and go down as a top-25 player of all time.
That’s why the uncertainty of his current situation is so uncomfortable. He has so much more to do, but isn’t quite sure where he’ll be doing it.
Yet amid all the signs of Antetokounmpo’s discontent, with his eventual departure from Milwaukee widely seen as inevitable around the Association and the spotlight surrounding him heading into the Feb. 5 trade deadline, this return from a calf injury that cost him eight games was a reminder that he is cut from a different cloth. And so long as he’s in a Bucks uniform, he insisted with that controversial final blow, there will be no lack of ferocity in Milwaukee’s fight.
Antetokounmpo justified his decision to break an unwritten rule by, in essence, blaming the desperation of the Bucks’ current situation. There’s no room for decorum when you’re looking up at 10 other teams in the East standings, he explained. And considering he’s already missed 18 games due to injury this season, now is the time to try to pull this wayward team from the ashes, delusional as that goal might be.
“If we keep on losing, brother, probably half of the team’s not gonna be here,” said Antetokounmpo, who had 29 points, eight rebounds, and a plus-13 mark while playing 25 minutes in his return. “At the end of the day, I just want to be available, be healthy and help my team win. And if that’s what has to happen for them — everybody — to wake up and understand like we’re fighting for our lives and we gotta get our hands dirty, so be it.”
Yet the more revealing part came next, when Antetokounmpo was asked — yet again — whether he wants to remain in Milwaukee if he can’t truly contend for a title with the Bucks.
“I’m here. I’m here. I’m here,” he said. “Don’t ask me that question. I’m here. It’s disrespectful towards myself and my teammates. I wear that jersey every single day. It’s disrespectful towards the organization, my coaching staff, myself and all the people that work hard for me to come out here and say I don’t want to be here. Don’t ask me that question.”
Truth be told, nothing that Antetokounmpo said will have a material effect on what comes next. Still, it was refreshing to see him return to his candid, authentic ways after the recent news conference in which he seemed to stumble while addressing an early-December ESPN report regarding his uncertain future.
There was a word-salad quality to that 24-minute session with reporters on Dec. 18, with Antetokounmpo failing miserably to explain whether the report truly reflected the state of affairs from his vantage point. There was a noticeable uptick in frustration from Bucks fans in the aftermath, with Antetokounmpo paying a public-relations price for his political approach.
Yet this strategy was much more on-brand, with Antetokounmpo’s on-court statement (the windmill) and the direct news conference that followed leaving no doubt about how he plans to approach this daunting Bucks challenge. And with good reason.
As The Athleticreported recently, the Bucks have been signaling a strong interest in upgrading their roster (again) around Antetokounmpo rather than welcoming trade calls for him. That stance is nothing if not stubborn, with longtime general manager Jon Horst clearly determined to explore all options that might compel Antetokounmpo to stay. His contract expires after next season, with a player option for the 2026-27 season worth $62.7 million.
Around the league, meanwhile, it remains unclear which teams could put together a package that would move Horst and the Bucks off of their current position. Or, to be clear, which teams actually want to.
The teams that have the most to offer — chief among them Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Houston — don’t appear eager to make that sort of monumental move at the moment. The franchises that have reasons to be more motivated — from Miami to Minnesota, Golden State, Atlanta and Toronto — all bring complications when it comes to satisfying the Bucks’ lofty desires in a potential deal. And then there’s the one team that Antetokounmpo showed a desire to play for last summer — the New York Knicks. Until further notice, the recently-crowned NBA Cup champions are fully invested in their current crop of title-contending talent.
All of which should help explain why Antetokounmpo isn’t about to shift into neutral anytime soon. He’s too great, and too in-his-prime, to waste even a day of this stage of his incredible career. No matter how messy things might be in Milwaukee.
To wit: While he has unofficially fallen out of the MVP discussion because of his injuries and the Bucks’ demise, he’s the only player not named Nikola Jokić averaging at least 28 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game. In another sign of his immense impact, the Bucks’ net rating is 17.5 points better when Antetokounmpo is on the floor compared when he’s off (-9.3 compared to 8.2 when he’s on, per NBA.com; Jokic’s swing is 14.6).
Only Antetokounmpo knows why he has decided to dig in with this current Bucks bunch, but the simple answer is he’s wired this way. Never mind that most of the faces from Milwaukee’s 2021 championship squad are gone, from Khris Middleton to Jrue Holiday, Brook Lopez, Donte DiVincenzo and many more. Or that the unfulfilling Damian Lillard era came and went in exchange for the unfulfilling Myles Turner experiment.
There were six seconds left on that United Center floor on Saturday night, with a decision to make about how to end a much-needed win. So Giannis chose basketball violence, and he didn’t carry an ounce of regret after the disrespectful deed was done.
“I’m here,” he said afterward. “I’m putting on the jersey. And as long as I’m here, I’m gonna give everything I have — even in the last second of the game.”