{"id":703655,"date":"2026-04-04T05:46:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T05:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/703655\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T05:46:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T05:46:19","slug":"nba-investigating-bucks-as-giannis-insists-hes-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/703655\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Investigating Bucks As Giannis Insists He’s Healthy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA is investigating the Bucks<\/strong> for potentially violating the player participation policy<\/a> as well as possible inconsistent statements regarding the health status of superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a><\/strong>, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"According to Charania, the league has already interviewed Antetokounmpo, the team and its doctors.<\/p>\n

The two sides have presented differing views of the situation, Charania adds (via Twitter<\/a>), with the Bucks saying they think Antetokounmpo isn\u2019t ready and doesn\u2019t actually want to play, while Giannis insists he\u2019s healthy but the team refuses to give him medical clearance.<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo has been out since March 15 with what the team has referred to as a left knee hyperextension and a bone bruise. He has played just 36\u00a0games this season due to knee, groin, ankle, and calf issues. The fewest games he had played in a season leading up to 2025\/26 was 61.<\/p>\n

As Eric Nehm of The Athletic<\/a> reports, Antetokounmpo gave an interview with local reporters on Friday and said there\u2019s a growing rift between himself and the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know who you are dealing with,\u201d Antetokounmpo said. \u201cSo for somebody to come and tell me to not play or not to compete, it\u2019s like a slap in my face. So, I don\u2019t know where the relationship goes from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nehm reported<\/a> a few days after Antetokounmpo\u2019s Mar. 15 injury occurred that Milwaukee had approached the Greek forward about having him sit out the rest of the season to prioritize his health, but the 31-year-old wasn\u2019t on board with the idea. Giannis said Friday that he discussed the concept with head coach Doc Rivers<\/strong> and GM Jon Horst<\/strong> a few weeks ago, but no one on the team has talked to him about it since.<\/p>\n

The two-time MVP told The Athletic and other media outlets that he has been healthy for weeks. He went through yet another full pregame workout on Friday, according to Nehm, just as he\u2019s done numerous times since the team approached him about sitting out. The 31-year-old finished the workout with a windmill dunk, Nehm notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m available to play, but I\u2019m not in the game,\u201d Antetokounmpo said. \u201cI\u2019m available to play today. Right now. I\u2019m available. Do I look like I\u2019m not available? \u2026 I don\u2019t see myself in the first 12. I don\u2019t see myself in the starting lineup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what game is being played right here, I just don\u2019t wanna be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo downplayed<\/a> the severity of the left knee issue after the Mar. 15 game and said he wasn\u2019t going to seek out imaging. He was initially questionable for the following contest due to an ankle injury, not his knee, and Rivers said the scans on Antetokounmpo\u2019s knee came back clean<\/a> when he was a late scratch ahead of the Mar. 17 matchup vs. Cleveland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news was it was a really good image, so there was no damage,\u201d Rivers said at the time. \u201cNothing. It was really just good news. But I don\u2019t know the next part (regarding a timeline).\u201d<\/p>\n

The NBPA put out a statement<\/a> on Mar. 24\u00a0that both supported Antetokounmpo and questioned whether the NBA is committed to enforcing its player participation policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen a case of a player saying, my caliber of player, that\u2019s like \u2014 I\u2019m saying it publicly \u2014 I want to f\u2013-ing play. You know what I\u2019m saying?\u201d Antetokounmpo said Friday, per Nehm. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve seen this. So, if there needs to be an investigation, great. There should be. I don\u2019t know. There should be. Until we figure something out.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Nehm details, Antetokounmpo tried to walk back his comments to some extent, saying he and the Bucks needed to find an \u201camicable solution\u201d to the disagreement. He also acknowledged he understood the team\u2019s logic in wanting him to sit out to prioritize his health and the team\u2019s draft positioning \u2014 he just disagreed with the premise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you telling me? The next time I\u2019m going to be play basketball is October? Why? I don\u2019t want to do that. I don\u2019t,\u201d Antetokounmpo said. \u201cI want to play basketball. I was born to play basketball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here 13 years and I understand the team gets eliminated from the playoffs, be smart. Taking care of your body, being in and out, just to be careful, to prepare for the next season, prepare for the next generation and the young players to get some minutes, go out there \u2014 I get that. But that wasn\u2019t the time that this took place. That\u2019s what bothers me. It\u2019s almost like you waved the white flag and I don\u2019t do that. I am sorry. I don\u2019t. And I never, never will.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bucks reportedly listened to trade offers for Antetokounmpo ahead of the February deadline, though it sounds as though they never came close to actually pulling the trigger on a deal. Bucks co-owner Wes Edens<\/strong> told ESPN a couple weeks ago that the nine-time All-NBA member would either be extended or traded<\/a> this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA is investigating the Bucks for potentially violating the player participation policy as well as possible inconsistent…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":703656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[153914,3368,97489,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-703655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-doc-rivers","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-jon-horst","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116344861726029053","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}