{"id":342841,"date":"2025-12-12T09:32:17","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T09:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/342841\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T09:32:17","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T09:32:17","slug":"former-nba-champions-argue-whether-giannis-antetokounmpo-is-a-coward-amid-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/342841\/","title":{"rendered":"Former NBA Champions Argue Whether Giannis Antetokounmpo Is A “Coward” Amid Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA Insider Chris Haynes recently reported<\/a> that the Bucks<\/a> superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> had a meeting with multiple teammates to tell them not to let the trade discussions around him distract their focus.<\/p>\n

Following the pushback from Kyle Kuzma<\/a> and Kevin Porter Jr.<\/a>, the NBA world was left confused on whether or not this even happened. Former NBA players Kendrick Perkins<\/a> and Richard Jefferson<\/a> saw this incident and decided to address it on their podcast, \u2018The Road Trippin Show,\u2019<\/a> with Channing Frye and Allie Clifton.<\/p>\n

The two former NBA champions nearly burst into an argument when Perkins called Giannis Antetokounmpo a \u201ccoward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGiannis is a coward. Giannis is a coward,\u201d said Perkins as Jefferson hit a face palm in disbelief. \u201cLet\u2019s just call it spade for spade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wouldn\u2019t even be having these conversations, we wouldn\u2019t be having these back-and-forths, wondering, \u2018hey, you know what? Shams is reporting this, simultaneously Chris Haynes is reporting that, Doc Rivers is coming to the podium and saying that we never had this conversation, and Kyle Kuzma is saying that we didn\u2019t have this meeting, all this b***sh** because Giannis is a coward, and I say that respectfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, wait\u2013\u201d interrupted a shocked Jefferson. \u201cHold on, keep quiet, man,\u201d responded Perkins while asking to finish his statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say that respectfully, because he [clearly] doesn\u2019t want to be there! And it\u2019s okay! Instead of him just coming out and saying, \u2018trade me! trade me!\u2019 I don\u2019t want to hear that it was reported by Brian Windhorst that Giannis went to the front office\u2013 just publicly come out and say, \u2018trade me,\u2019 and stand on it,\u201d said Perkins as the camera cut to Jefferson, who looked stunned.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to come out and say, \u2018Yes, my time is up,\u2019 because I\u2019m tired of it, bro,\u201d concluded Perkins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you, me, her, Channing, to tell Giannis how to handle the exit from a team that he won an MVP, a championship, and a Finals MVP with. Who are we to tell him how to handle this? They have a team\u2026 and you\u2019re talking about \u2018I\u2019m tired of this\u2019. No one gives a f**k, Giannis doesn\u2019t give a f**k what you\u2019re tired about, nor should he, respectfully,\u201d Jefferson argued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen why should we give a f**k about what he\u2019s doing?\u201d responded a perplexed Perkins.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we\u2019re covering basketball, we\u2019re covering the game!\u201d yelled Jefferson in response. Richard simply explained that the NBA world needs to respect the internal processes of a franchise instead of urging him to make a public trade demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo! No! Bro, I just want you to stop hiding your hand,\u201d Perkins clarified.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t have to hide his hand, he doesn\u2019t have to f**king show you, me, or anybody else his hand,\u201d Jefferson screamed in response.<\/p>\n

\u201cA team can do whatever they want with a player; they can trade him in the dark, tell him they\u2019re going to put his jersey up\u2026 now you\u2019re sitting here saying he\u2019s got to show his hand? Teams don\u2019t do it. Time and time and time again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now we sit here and make Giannis the villain? Because every time a player makes a decision, it\u2019s personal, but when a team makes a decision, it\u2019s business? For Giannis, this is business. Y\u2019all figure it, y\u2019all know what I want, I want out of here, I\u2019m not going to do it publicly because I don\u2019t want to deal with that,\u201d Jefferson further argued.<\/p>\n

And while Perkins remained perplexed about why Antetokounmpo is loud about everything else except his own wishes, Jefferson retained his stance, saying the Bucks superstar does not owe anyone an explanation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Giannis Antetokounmpo has seemingly done everything short of telling the Bucks straight away<\/a> to trade him. While Perkins believes this to be cowardly, Jefferson thinks nobody on their show is in a position to tell Giannis Antetokounmpo how to exit from a team that he\u2019s brought significant glory to.<\/p>\n

The Greek superstar is currently sidelined with a right calf strain<\/a> and missed the Bucks\u2019 surprising 116-101 win over the Celtics tonight. He is currently averaging 28.9 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 6.1 assists while shooting 63.9% from the field.<\/p>\n

While the Bucks remain hopeful about ensuring that Antetokounmpo stays in Milwaukee, a public trade request could be backbreaking for them. The Bucks are currently 11-15 for the season and look far from being contenders. But trading Giannis away would definitely put them in a rebuild mode and years away from being potentially contending.<\/p>\n

Do you think that Giannis should request a trade and end the uncertainty? Or can the Bucks do something to prevent their superstar from leaving? Let us know what you think in the comments section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBA Insider Chris Haynes recently reported that the Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo had a meeting with multiple teammates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-342841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}