[Nickel] Giannis:“I’m not American. I’m very sorry that I am saying this with you. But I didn’t grow up with [the mantra of]: ‘I expect … I expect this to come, I expect this. I demand this.’ Never in my life.“So, everything they’ve told me, I always said yes. They gave me a contract, I said, yes”
Lori Nickel: This is something that’s always bothered me. I asked you this directly the day coach Adrian Griffin was fired − how involved you were with that. And you said, you give an opinion, but you do not make the decision.
*Giannis Antetokounmpo:* “1000%.”
Nobody believes you. Nobody believes me.
*Antetokounmpo:* “I’m telling you the truth. I see, of course; I interview, but I don’t make the decision. That’s everyone, not just me. All the players, well not all of them − for the longest time it was Bud [coach Mike Budenholzer], Giannis and Khris [Middleton]. But I don’t make a decision. I was the youngest player on the team.”
That doesn’t matter, you were wise beyond your years and you were already a leader. Age didn’t matter.
*Antetokounmpo:* “I appreciate that you say that I’m wise beyond my years, but imagine being working in a male-dominant business and sport. Everybody has an ego. Everybody has it. It’s a business. Everyone has to do their job, make their job significant.”
People thought you had Griff hired. People thought you had Doc [coach Doc Rivers] hired, people thought you had Jrue [Holiday] traded … It goes on and on and on and on. You run the whole thing.
*Antetokounmpo, sarcastically:* “I do. I have so much time. I’m so good in my job. I have four kids and a wife, right? And my mother lives with me in the same property, right? So I have time to run everything.
“There’s only 24 hours in a day. And also if this is what they believe, I should get paid more. I don’t know what the salary of a GM is; I should get the salary of a GM. I should get the salary of the coach. I should get more.
“Sorry, if that’s what they believe, I should get more. But it doesn’t matter what they believe. I know what is the truth.”
This is a question I would ask myself if things were bad, so I’m going ask you as well: Is there anything that you think you did to upset the owners?
*Antetokounmpo:* ”Never.”
Jon? (General manager Jon Horst.)
*Antetokounmpo:* ”Never.”
How is your relationship right now with Jon?
*Antetokounmpo:* “Jon Horst. I talk more with him. Not as much as I’ve talked to him in the past. But yeah, I talked with Jon all through the summer. But that’s pretty much … it’s not the same as before. I talked to [former president] Peter Feigin when he was here every other day and even now when he’s not here, I still speak with him.”
Do you understand why I’m asking you this? I feel like they’re making you … live with something. I can’t put my finger on it.
*Antetokounmpo:* ”I am going to tell you my opinion. Then you have to interview them, and then they can tell you their opinion. I carry myself in such a way that it’s very hard for me to upset somebody, even with my teammates. If you walk in the locker room, they will tell you, Giannis has never raised his voice. Giannis leads with example. Giannis is not an [expletive].
“My job is to play basketball. That’s why I get paid. That’s what I love to do. Just play basketball. My job is not to organize things and bring the pieces. That is not my job.
“I am not one of the guys that ever did disrespect to the ownership. Why? I came from nothing. Zero, zero, I grew up in a bed that was like this [points to a loading cart in the hallway], me and my brothers had to sleep sideways, like sardines. So, what do I look like if I am going to the owners saying, ‘I want this, I want that, I want that.’ They give me a life that I would never have imagined.
”… I am living an incredible life, and not just for my kids, my nieces, my brothers, my mother, people that I take care of in Nigeria. So who am I to go and say, ‘This is not good enough, and I demand this.’
“I’m not American. I’m very sorry that I am saying this with you. But I didn’t grow up with [the mantra of]: ‘*I expect …* I *expect* this to come, I *expect* this. I *demand* this.’ Never in my life.
“So, everything they’ve told me, I always said yes. They gave me a contract, I said, yes.”
(Note: Requests to interview Horst, the team president and ownership has thus far either been denied or ignored.)
You want to be put in a position to succeed.
*Antetokounmpo:* ”Yeah. Exactly. Is it bad for me saying, I’m 31 years old, I won the championship when I was 26 years old. Then the question creeps in your head, like … Did I wait too long? Did I do the right thing?”
Did you wait too long for what?
*Antetokounmpo:* ”Being here. [Staying in Milwaukee.]
“But then I’m like, No, this is *what* I want. I want to be here. I want to be with my team. I want to win here again. This is my home. I’ve spent more years [that I can remember] here than in Greece. It’s my home. I want to help the community with my wife and my brothers.
“Thanasis is loved here, my brother, my mother are loved here. My kids and I … it’s a normal life, I have a normal life. If you go somewhere else, all this switches. But I don’t want to look back and be like …”
(Antetokounmpo pauses. He’s joined by his brothers Thanasis and Alex, who played together in the latest Bucks game, and he congratulates them, beaming with pride, but also looking worn out and tired.)
*Antetokounmpo:* “This is why you have conversations with all-time greats like KG (Kevin Garnett). Dirk (Nowitzki) was in the same position, and chose to stay. We’ll see. We’ll see what’s going to happen.”