Basketball fans had some questions after a video surfaced of Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo swiping a hand at one of his Greece teammates during a huddle.
The players were gathered at the center of the floor after a 69-61 win over Montenegro on Thursday when Antetokounmpo slapped Giannoulis Larentzakis in the back of the head:
Former NBA guard Evan Fournier, who now plays overseas at Olympiacos and is teammates with Larentzakis, made light of the clip:
Fans, meanwhile, tried to decipher what happened:
Giannis, who was in street clothes, obviously didn’t suit up for the exhibition as Greece goes through its preparations for the men’s EuroBasket. He intends to compete in the tournament, and coach Vassilis Spanoulis said the nine-time All-Star would begin training fully this weekend.
Antetokounmpo and Larentzakis go back more than a decade with the national team. They represented Greece at the 2013 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship, and they’ve participated in multiple senior tournaments together since then. The pair helped their country advance to the knockout phase of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
Greece last medaled in the EuroBasket in 2009, earning bronze.
The competition is too strong across the continent to where one star can single-handedly lift his team to the podium. Still, the Greeks will be disappointed if they ultimately have nothing to show from a period when they had a talent as transcendent as Antetokounmpo on the roster.
Greece will tip off EuroBasket on Aug. 28 against Italy.