{"id":584488,"date":"2026-04-05T20:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T20:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/584488\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T20:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T20:48:08","slug":"giannis-says-co-owners-comments-a-slap-in-my-face","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/584488\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Says Co-Owner’s Comments ‘A Slap In My Face’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an exclusive interview with Lori Nickel of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel<\/a> (subscriber link), Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> says he felt disrespected by the comments co-owner and current governor Wes Edens\u00a0made to ESPN<\/a> a couple weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cGiannis is going into the last year (of his contract),\u201d Edens told ESPN\u2019s Ramona Shelburne. \u201cSo one of two things will happen: Either he will be extended or he\u2019ll be traded. The likelihood you\u2019ll let him just kind of play out the last year, we can\u2019t afford that. It\u2019s not consistent with what\u2019s good for the organization. That\u2019s not a Giannis issue. That\u2019s any player that\u2019s in their last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

While those comments could be interpreted as an ultimatum, Antetokounmpo told Nickel he views it a little differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s like a slap in my face,\u201d Antetokounmpo said.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo will earn $58.5MM in 2026\/27, followed by a $62.8MM player option for \u201927\/28. He\u2019ll become eligible on October 1 to sign a four-year, maximum-salary extension (the exact value would depend on where the \u201927\/28 cap ends up). If he doesn\u2019t sign an extension and opts out of that player option, he would be an unrestricted free agent in 2027.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old forward told the Journal Sentinel he found out about Edens\u2019 stance when ESPN\u2019s story was released. Antetokounmpo admits he wasn\u2019t thrilled with the indirect communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt says a lot \u2026\u201d Antetokounmpo said.<\/p>\n

According to Nickel, the two-time MVP wasn\u2019t \u201cangry\u201d or \u201caccusatory\u201d when he answered questions, but he was \u201cstraightforward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nickel asked Antetokounmpo how many times he has spoken to Edens during the 2025\/26 season, and he only recalled one conversation, which came via Zoom. Co-owner Jimmy Haslam was also on that Zoom call, and Antetokounmpo said he talked to Haslam one additional time.<\/p>\n

ESPN reported that Milwaukee\u00a0has an unusual ownership structure that involves the governor title changing hands between co-owners Edens and Jimmy Haslam every five years (Haslam will become governor in 2028). In addition to controlling ownership rotating between those two men, another franchise shareholder, Jamie Dinan, is reportedly involved in major decisions.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo wondered aloud whether the Nuggets or Thunder would ever make similar comments about Nikola Jokic<\/a> or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially [as] somebody that has been this loyal, and I\u2019ve showed appreciation, to the team, to the community, to the fans, to everybody that I\u2019ve worked with, you know?\u201d Antetokounmpo said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s almost, like, a slap in my face.\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Antetokounmpo and Edens have made differing public comments. Edens told reporters at the Bucks\u2019 media day in late September<\/a> that he had a \u201cgreat conversation\u201d with Antetokounmpo last June and that the nine-time All-Star \u201cmade it clear that he was very committed to Milwaukee.\u201d At the time, Giannis said he didn\u2019t recall that discussion.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo reiterated his commitment and love for Milwaukee again during the interview, according to Nickel, who writes that the 10-time All-Star also made it clear he hopes future conversations between he and the Bucks remain private.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here, I committed, I\u2019m wearing the jersey, and it is disrespectful to my teammates, to my coaching staff, to the people that I go and sweat with, and go to war with, to say, \u2018I don\u2019t want to be here\u2019 \u2212 and I will never do that,\u201d Antetokounmpo told the Journal Sentinel.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, what goes on in private rooms? It\u2019s not my job, it\u2019s not my responsibility, and it should not \u2212 in no shape or form \u2212 be shared in public. I believe in etiquette. I believe in human etiquette, I believe in basketball etiquette. So with my owners, I have addressed what I feel and what I believe the situation is.<\/p>\n

\u201cSame with my GM, same with my coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd for me, that [Wes Edens] comment was a slap [in] the face. But, it\u2019s my boss. So I just gotta keep on moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Bucks employee was instructed to listen in on the conversation Antetokounmpo was having with the Journal Sentinel, Nickel writes. Antetokounmpo, who agreed that his contract gave him a degree of leverage this summer, said that while he still speaks to GM Jon Horst, the communication between the two isn\u2019t as regular as it once was. He also made it clear he doesn\u2019t trust the front office.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t feel comfortable talking to nobody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo told Nickel he\u2019s been more closed off this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried this whole year to stay to myself, and also this past summer,\u201d Antetokounmpo said. \u201cI was more closed off to myself. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s because I don\u2019t feel comfortable opening up enough. Or if it\u2019s just, I just don\u2019t want to open up at this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely not like before.\u201d<\/p>\n

The league continues<\/a> to investigate<\/a> the Bucks for possible player participation policy violations over disagreements with Antetokounmpo about whether he\u2019s healthy enough to play this season. The Bucks insist the perennial MVP candidate is still injured due to a left knee injury, while Antetokounmpo says he\u2019s ready to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know who you are dealing with,\u201d Antetokounmpo said Friday. \u201cSo for somebody to come and tell me to not play or not to compete, it\u2019s like a slap in my face. So, I don\u2019t know where the relationship goes from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head coach Doc Rivers said after Friday\u2019s loss to Boston that he was tired of being in the middle of the public disagreements between management and Antetokounmpo, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic<\/a>. Rivers said it wasn\u2019t up to him whether Antetokounmpo would be active or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m out of the business of trying this subliminal messaging or all that crap,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cI\u2019ve heard all the stuff. I just want everybody to be on the same side, (because) they deserve it. All of \u2018em. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a bad person in this group \u2014 none of the guys that I\u2019m talking about. I think they\u2019re all good people. But we gotta figure out how to put good people on the same page and it stays inside.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an exclusive interview with Lori Nickel of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (subscriber link), Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,8228,65440,54206,82,223378],"class_list":["post-584488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-jimmy-haslam","tag-jon-horst","tag-sports","tag-wesley-edens"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}