According to NBA insider Brian Windhorst of ESPN, Giannis Antetokounmpo has given no indication he’s not focused on maximizing what the Milwaukee Bucks have.
The Bucks are down 2-0 to the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the 2025 playoffs. Indiana beat Milwaukee in the first round of the 2024 playoffs in six games.
“Giannis has been just awesome this season,” Windhorst said on his podcast. “He’s clearly understood that they’re challenged and he has cut the BS out of his game and cut the fat out of his game and tried doing everything he can to carry this team and they’re just not good enough. And what is he supposed to do? This is the elephant in the room in the league right now. This team is losing tens of millions of dollars.
“And the other thing I’ll say is from talking to people in and around Milwaukee, Giannis has given no indication throughout this entire season that he is not 100% focused on maximizing what the Bucks have. This is people in the league looking at the lay of the land, not anything that Giannis has said to anybody.”
The Bucks won the title in 2021. Since then, they have lost to the Boston Celtics in the second round of the 2022 playoffs, the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2023 playoffs and the Pacers in the first round of the 2024 playoffs.
One of the greatest players in NBA history, Antetokounmpo has spent his entire career with the Bucks, who signed the two-time MVP and one-time Finals MVP to a three-year, $175 million extension in October 2023.
Milwaukee acquired Damian Lillard from the Portland Trail Blazers in 2023. Antetokounmpo missed the entire 2024 playoffs with an injury. He and Lillard made their postseason debut together on Tuesday in Game 2 versus the Pacers, a game the Bucks lost by eight points.
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