Giannis Antetokounmpo voices major complaint for NBA
Apr 3, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) gets ready to play the Memphis Grizzlies at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Giannis Antetokounmpo is celebrating Festivus this year by airing out his grievances against the league.
In an interview this week with Eric Nehm of The Athletic, the Milwaukee Bucks star Antetokounmpo called out the NBA for not scheduling their team to play on Christmas this year. Antetokounmpo added that he was “pissed” about the Bucks getting snubbed.
“I’m a little bit upset or kind of questioning it,” Antetokounmpo said. “But I really believe there’s probably an algorithm that takes place within the NBA that shows who is the most attractive team or which team gets the most attention for them to be able to play in the Christmas game.
“There’s gotta be an algorithm because if it’s — how can I say — like a popularity contest, I can give you facts,” he added. “Two of the NBA All-Star starters, Dame [Lillard] and Giannis, and the All-Star MVP [Lillard], right? And the No. 1 vote-getter — not in the East, in the whole NBA — is not in the Christmas game? It’s a fact … We don’t get a Christmas game. Why? Because we got a small market? Maybe that’s the case. Or I want to believe what I tell you, I think there’s an algorithm within the NBA that they choose which team will get the most attention, the most viewership that day … I’m pissed.”
After winning the 2021 NBA championship, the Bucks have underwhelmed this season and currently sit at 15-12 (No. 5 in the Eastern Conference). But they have righted the ship in recent weeks (winning the NBA Cup title over the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this month) and still have four All-Stars on the roster in Antetokounmpo, Lillard, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez.
The former MVP Antetokounmpo also has a point in that the Bucks are usually playing on Christmas Day, and you have to go all the way back to 2017 for the last time that they did not. Antetokounmpo did add too though that he is “happy” and grateful that he gets to spend the holiday this year with his family instead. But it is clear that the snub from Christmas 2024 bothers The Greek Freak, who already took to social media over the offseason to express displeasure with the NBA’s decision.