{"id":544261,"date":"2026-03-25T11:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/544261\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T11:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:46:09","slug":"nba-players-association-says-milwaukee-bucks-are-losing-games-on-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/544261\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Players Association says Milwaukee Bucks are losing games on purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WBAY) &#8211; The NBA Players Association is accusing the Milwaukee Bucks of \u201ctanking\u201d their games &#8212; losing on purpose &#8212; by sitting All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo despite him wanting to play.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Milwaukee Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo looks on from the bench during the second half of an...\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CJXHBLADC5DZTFR4P56S5ZVQM4.jpg\" width=\"980\" height=\"653\" \/>Milwaukee Bucks&#8217; Giannis Antetokounmpo looks on from the bench during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Tuesday, March 17, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo\/Aaron Gash)(Aaron Gash | AP)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">A statement from the players union reads in part, \u201cThe Player Participation Policy was designed by the league to hold teams accountable and ensure that when an All-Star like Giannis Antetokounmpo is healthy and ready to play, he is on the court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cUnfortunately, anti-tanking policies are only as effective as their enforcement; fans, broadcast partners, and the integrity of the game itself will continue to suffer as long as ownership goes unchecked.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The Bucks announced last week Antetokounmpo would be out with a knee injury and gave no return date. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/48297502\/nbpa-rebukes-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-dispute\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nba\/story\/_\/id\/48297502\/nbpa-rebukes-bucks-giannis-antetokounmpo-dispute\">ESPN reports<\/a> he suffered a hyperextended knee and bone bruise after landing awkwardly after a dunk against the Indiana Pacers on March 15.<\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2026 WBAY. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WBAY) &#8211; The NBA Players Association is accusing the Milwaukee Bucks of \u201ctanking\u201d their games &#8212;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-544261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}