Last week, we talked about the Milwaukee Bucks’ general manager being fined by the league for commenting on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s pending free agency. Now, Giannis himself is being asked about the upcoming blockbuster event of next summer. Well, sort of that is.
Moreover, the Greek Freak has attempted to sidestep any questioning on the matter in order to be respectful to his teammates.
Giannis says it’s “disrespectful to my teammates” to talk about free agency. pic.twitter.com/0HjjPmSwD4
— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) September 30, 2019
Furthermore, here’s what he told NBA reporter Eric Woodyard:
“I’m not gonna talk about it a lot this season, and I’m not going to try to address it,” said Antetokounmpo, the NBA’s reigning MVP.
Then – he continued with a quote with a little more body behind it – albeit not much.
“I feel like if you have a great team, and our goal is to win a championship and be the last team standing and get better each day, I think it’s disrespectful towards my teammates talking about my free agency and what I’m going through,” Antetokounmpo said. “So, when the time is right, we’re all gonna talk about it. I don’t think the time is right.”
Certainly, it doesn’t sound like Antetokounmpo has made up his mind one way or another. The reigning 2018-2019 MVP can sign anywhere he wants for top dollar, and it’s likely that he will just join forces with another superstar to form another super team. After all, that’s life in the NBA nowadays.
However, you have to give Antetokounmpo some degree of credit for not making a spectacle of this. In fact, you can tell he probably really likes this being a storyline at all; with an entire NBA season ready to be played still.
Remember, the Bucks came just a few games away from reaching the NBA Finals last season in losing in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Toronto Raptors. Surely, this storyline will remain a hot topic in NBA circles until Giannis moves on (or stays with Milwaukee).
Finally, one must as the question: if Giannis doesn’t want it to be a distraction, why not just re-sign with Milwaukee right now?
