declaring he was healthy enough to play<\/a> on April 3, Antetokounmpo held a session with reporters following Sunday\u2019s game that lasted roughly 10 minutes.\u00a0Below is a transcribed version of that conversation, edited for clarity and brevity:<\/p>\nYou are going to be the topic of every conversation heading into this offseason. How do you approach that?<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo: Phone on do not disturb. Working hard every single day to improve my game, be in the best physical shape that I can be and just stay away from it \u2014 all of it. I feel like this season, not just because of the way it went, it was draining for me, for sure, and how everybody approached my situation and the Bucks situation. But again, if it was draining for me, it was definitely draining for the team and for the organization. I feel like sometimes, people just don\u2019t listen. They listen to the \u201csources,\u201d and the main source is me. It is what it is. So again, do not disturb (on my) phone, go about my day, improve and come back better.<\/p>\n
With injuries plaguing you for much of this season, you played in just 36 games, the fewest of any of your NBA seasons. How have you handled not being as available as you\u2019d like to be?<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo: It\u2019s part of it. It\u2019s basketball. Obviously, for the first time in my career, not being available for 40 games \u2026 it never happened to me. It was definitely tough. But I understand it\u2019s basketball, man. You\u2019re going to have a down year. You\u2019re going to have an up year. It is how you respond to it. You can fall down, crumble, whine about it and cry about it, but that\u2019s not who I am. I\u2019m never gonna do that. The only other choice I have is to put my head down, get better, work out, dive deep into my craft and what I want to achieve this summer. And this, for the first time in my career, to have a summer from January until October, I\u2019ve never had that in my life. So, I\u2019m going to definitely take advantage of this summer, try to get away from everything and try to do things, try things that I haven\u2019t tried before. So, we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n
How much control do you feel like you have?<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo: At this point? Zero. I didn\u2019t have control. I was being cleared to play; I don\u2019t understand. From my understanding, coming back to play \u2014 which I don\u2019t think I ever had any return-to-play protocol \u2014 was I had to play three-on-three to be able to be available to play. I did that multiple times. I have never in my life denied participation (in) practice, which whoever says that \u2014 I don\u2019t know who said that, who came up with that \u2014 that\u2019s disrespectful towards what I\u2019ve done for this team and the way I carry myself my whole career. You\u2019ve been around me. You know. I did what I was supposed to do. I wasn\u2019t able to come on the court. Who has that say? It probably comes from above. It probably comes from maybe the front office or the owners. So, I thought I had control, kind of like, \u201cIf I\u2019m healthy, I\u2019m going to play,\u201d But this shows me that we \u2014 not just me, players in general \u2014 don\u2019t have no control. We\u2019ve gotta do what we\u2019ve been told. So, to answer your question, no, I didn\u2019t feel like I had control at all.<\/p>\n
For you, is all of this just about communication with general manager Jon Horst and owners Wes Edens and Jimmy Haslam to figure out what all of you want together moving forward?<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo: I\u2019m very big on communication. I think this is why I\u2019m able to have a happy marriage, you know? I\u2019ve been (together) 10 years with my wife, married 1 1\/2, and I think we have an incredible family. We love one another, and we support one another, and the reason that is, is because we communicate with one another. This is why we (are) so tight. We always say the truth. Even when we argue, we try to figure out a way for us to move forward and try to find a solution for that specific moment. You don\u2019t let things linger. I\u2019m very big on communication; I\u2019ve always been open. But \u2026 it has to go both ways. It cannot go one way.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re still with the Bucks on Oct. 1, are you willing to sign another supermax extension?<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo: Oh, that\u2019s too far away. It\u2019s something I gotta sit down, see, talk with my family, see what\u2019s best for me and what\u2019s best for my family, for my career. If that\u2019s the best scenario, I will definitely want to do that. But before we even talk about an extension, somebody (has) gotta offer me that. I haven\u2019t been offered an extension, so that\u2019s too far. You gotta take it a step at a time.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo then asked a reporter what he would do if he was in the star\u2019s position in October. The reporter acknowledged he could use the hundreds of millions of dollars that would be in that offer.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo: I don\u2019t know what the number is, but I think I\u2019m pretty much OK. If I don\u2019t take it, it would probably affect my great-great-grandkids. It won\u2019t affect me. But, what would you do, basketball-wise? Money doesn\u2019t mean nothing to me. Zero. Absolutely zero. What means something to me is winning. What would you do? Take money out of it.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s an interesting question.<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo: That\u2019s why I\u2019m asking. What would you do?<\/p>\n
Wouldn\u2019t the implication be that if you\u2019re at Bucks media day on Oct. 1, the team has decided they\u2019re going to offer you the extension and the team has been retooled in a way to compete with you yet again?<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo: Mmhmm. Mmhmm. What would I do then? Hypothetically? I know. First of all, I don\u2019t wear the pants in my relationship; I gotta ask my wife. If my wife says yes, (then) yes. If she says no, (then) no. It\u2019s up to her. So, you guys gotta ask her. Find her on social media. Follow her podcast \u2026 I don\u2019t know if she has one. Ask her. Whatever she says, I do.<\/p>\n
But you wouldn\u2019t be opposed to it?<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo: To sign? A contract? No. But, we\u2019ll see when we get there. Until we get to October, it\u2019s eight months, seven months. It\u2019s a long time. But somebody has to offer you that for you to sign. I haven\u2019t been offered an extension. So, if that is on the table, then I will try to make the best decision for me and family. But if it\u2019s not on the table, then I have to focus on how can I prove my worth and get on the floor and do what I do.<\/p>\n
You have always told the Bucks that you want to contend for championships. How far away do you feel the team is away from that?<\/p>\n
Antetokounmpo: We were very bad. We are the furthest away that we\u2019ve been in the last couple of years. How many wins did we have, 32? This is (the) second-lowest wins I\u2019ve ever (had), right? The first was 15 (during the 2013-14 season) \u2026 so yeah, we\u2019re the furthest away that we\u2019ve been, I think. We\u2019ll see. This is what we have in front of us. I didn\u2019t think we were going to be in this position last year, so I don\u2019t know what position we\u2019re going to be next year. If everything goes well, hopefully if the Bucks want me here, why not? But if they don\u2019t, OK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 With the Milwaukee Bucks\u2019 2025-26 season complete, all attention turns, once again, to two-time MVP Giannis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[360,355,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-581235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581235","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=581235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}