[Nehm] Giannis Antetokounmpo insisted to local reporters that he is healthy enough to play and that the Bucks aren’t letting him: “it’s like a slap in my face… I want to f—cking play.”
Calling it “against my nature” to sit out games, Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo insisted he is healthy enough to play but is being held out by the only team he has represented in his 13-year NBA career.
“You know who you are dealing with,” Antetokounmpo said in an interview with local reporters one hour before Friday’s game against the Boston Celtics. “So for somebody to come and tell me to not play or not to compete, it’s like a slap in my face. So, I don’t know where the relationship goes from there.”
Antetokounmpo has not played since hyperextending his left knee in the Bucks’ 134-123 win over the Indiana Pacers on March 15. While the Bucks have listed him out for the last 10 games with a bone bruise, Antetokounmpo said Friday that he is actually healthy and has been for weeks.
“I’m available to play, but I’m not in the game,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’m available to play today. Right now. I’m available. Do I look like I’m not available? … I don’t see myself in the first 12. I don’t see myself in the starting lineup.”
“I don’t know what game is being played right here, I just don’t wanna be a part of it.”
As first reported by The Athletic, the Bucks approached Antetokounmpo about getting shut down for the remainder of the season, an idea the franchise’s all-time leading scorer firmly rebuffed. On Friday, Antetokounmpo claimed the organization has not communicated with him about the possibility of returning since that first conversation.
“I had an initial conversation with who I should be talking to, which is coach Doc (Rivers) — let’s just keep it at coach Doc and (general manager) Jon (Horst) — and the initial conversation is that I want to play. And after that I’ve never had a conversation again,” Anteotkounmpo said. “Nobody has ever approached me (about) not playing or whatever the plan is.”
The NBA has been looking into Antetokounmpo’s injury status, a source briefed on the situation tells The Athletic, and conversations with the Bucks remain ongoing. The National Basketball Players Association previously issued a statement asserting that Antetokounmpo was healthy and being withheld from games as part of a tanking effort by the Bucks.
“I’ve never seen a case of a player saying, my caliber of player, that’s like — I’m saying it publicly — I want to f–-ing play. You know what I’m saying?” Antetokounmpo said Friday. “I don’t think I’ve seen this. So, if there needs to be an investigation, great. There should be. I don’t know. There should be. Until we figure something out.”