The Greek basketball federation believes the NBA and the Milwaukee Bucks are conspiring to keep Giannis Antetokounmpo out of EuroBasket.
After putting together the best season of his young career, Antetokounmpo got invited by his native country to compete in EuroBasket, which he declined because of a bad knee. He went on, saying that missing the tournament is “by far the biggest disappointment in my career.”
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The GBF isn’t buying it. However, the NBA released a statement that illustrated their compliance with the NBA-FIBA protocols, “The NBA and the Milwaukee Bucks have followed all appropriate protocol under the NBA-FIBA agreement. Giannis has an injury that has been confirmed through multiple examinations and any suggestion to the contrary is false.”
In their response, the GBF had a lot to say regarding the validity of Giannis’ injury, according to the Journal Sentinel’s Matt Velazquez:
“The simultaneous briefing by the manager of the Milwaukee Bucks and by Giannis Antetokounmpo himself via phone and social media from distant China — and not in the proper formal form — for his inability to play for the Greek national team, brought us sadness due to this great loss, but unfortunately it does not surprise us.
“A series of clues by which we were particularly worried about since Giannis arrived in Greece and the national team training camp started, had created the conviction of an organized and well-staged plan by the NBA franchise in which Giannis has signed. Everything was in full knowledge of the NBA, if not encouraged by the NBA, and the athlete was put in a very difficult place and ultimately was obliged today to inform that he can’t be a member of the national team.”
Over the last two seasons, Giannis has been absent for just four combined games; in his career, he’s missed just 10, with five of them coming during his rookie campaign. Antetokounmpo’s last EuroBasket tournament was back in 2015, where he averaged 9.8 points and 6.9 rebounds in eight games.
Last September, Giannis signed a four-year, $100 million extension that begins this coming season.
