Giannis Antetokounmpo comments on trade rumors: What Bucks star said
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Speaking on trade speculation directly for the first time in weeks, Giannis Antetokounmpo said he has not had direct conversations with the Bucks about his future in Milwaukee, though he did not rule out that his agent may be addressing the matter with the team.
“If my agent is talking to the Bucks about it, he’s his own person, he can have any conversation that he wants,” Antetokounmpo told reporters Thursday, Dec. 18. “But at the end of the day, I don’t work for my agent, my agent works for me.”
That’s a curious way to frame a player-agent relationship given that it’s difficult to conceive of a situation in which his agent, Alex Saratsis, would hold high-level discussions about Antetokounmpo’s future without his input. That’s magnified only further given Antetokounmpo’s stature in the NBA.
A two-time Most Valuable Player and nine-time All-Star with a massive salary, Antetokounmpo is a player who’s able to dictate the shape his career takes.
“At the end of the day, like I tell my wife all the time, I say like, ‘Stop going shopping to Target,’ ” Antetokounmpo said. “Every day she wakes up she’s like, ‘I’m going to Target.’ I’m like ‘Babe, stop, you’re addicted to Target.’ And she, even today, she went to Target. Like, I can’t control her. She’s a grown-ass woman. I can’t control what she does. So, the same thing with my agent. I can’t control the conversations they’re going to have.”
In early December, Antetokounmpo scrubbed his social media accounts of most mentions of the Bucks, leading to rampant trade speculation. Yet, the star forward suffered a calf strain shortly after and had not addressed the matter publicly since then.
“There’s going to be conversations that will be made between him and the Bucks, and him and his other players and him and other teams and GMs, executives around the league — it’s something that you can’t control,” Antetokounmpo said. “But at the end of the day, I, personally, have not had conversations with the Bucks. I’m still locked in, locked in on my teammates, most importantly, locked in on me getting back healthy.”
Antetokounmpo, who is averaging 28.9 points, 10.1 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game, may miss more time as he recovers from the injury.
“As a leader, but most importantly as a winner, you just got to be there for them first,” Antetokounmpo said of his teammates. “So, right now again, I’m just focused on getting back healthy on the court, focusing on how can I encourage my team to be the best version of themselves. After that, focus on how can I go out there and help them win games and get out of this hole that we’ve dug ourselves in and then everything else comes after that.”
The Bucks have struggled this season, compiling an 11-16 record, ranked 11th in the Eastern Conference. Antetokounmpo said that he has had conversations with coach Doc Rivers and general manager Jon Horst, though not about his future.
Speaking on his social media activity, Antetokounmpo downplayed his purging of Bucks references and said the ones that mattered most to him were still up. He said the decision to pare down his posts was a decision “to be more private moving forward” and to protect his family.
“Do I hope it stops? 1,000%,” Antetokounmpo said of the trade speculation. “Because it takes a toll on me, too, mentally, and on my family. My wife sees it. My mom sees it. It’s like, 'Oh, we’re going to, I don't know, New Orleans?' No. That’s not happening. And it takes a toll on my teammates, which I don’t like, I really don’t like.
“I get why it’s happening, but I definitely hope it can just stop and (I) just play basketball. I just want to play basketball.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors comments, what Bucks star said
