Title rewards Antetokounmpo’s decision to commit to Bucks
MILWAUKEE — This could have been the offseason in which Giannis Antetokounmpo entered the free-agent market and
perhaps teamed up with another superstar to try winning multiple NBA titles together.
Antetokounmpo instead will spend the summer celebrating a championship he won with the team that picked him.
Leading the Bucks to their first NBA
crown in half century rewarded Antetokounmpo for his December decision to
sign a supermax extension with Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo
averaged 35.2 points,
13.2 rebounds and 5 assists to help the Bucks beat the Phoenix Suns 4-2 in the NBA Finals.
“I could go to a superteam and just do
my part and win a championship,’’ Antetokounmpo
said Tuesday as he was flanked
by the Larry O’brien trophy and his NBA Finals MVP trophy. “But this is the hard way to do it and this is
the way to do it. And we did it.”
Antetokounmpo, 26, stuck with the franchise that had taken a chance on him eight years ago by selecting
him with the 15th overall pick in the draft. He was just 18 then.
Loyalty matters to Antetokounmpo, who grew up dealing with poverty in Greece.
He spent much of his postgame news conference thanking the people who helped get him to this point. He praised the current
and former Bucks officials who assisted in
his development. He wore a T-shirt honoring Jim Paschke, who retired this year after
broadcasting Bucks
games for 35 seasons.
Most of all, he spoke about his family while crediting
his Nigerian parents for the sacrifices they
made along the way. Three of their sons
have now won NBA championships, though Giannis is the
unquestioned star of that group.
“I can be stubborn sometimes,” Antetokounmpo said. “I can disconnect myself from the world because I want this so bad. I wanted this so bad, and I was able to get it. That’s why I was tearing up. But people helped me to
be in this position. I didn’t do it by myself. Every freaking day, people helped me.”
He also thanked the city that has become his basketball home.
Antetokounmpo averaged 6.8 points
his rookie year as Milwaukee staggered through a 15-67 season, but he developed into a two-time MVP while helping the Bucks emerge as annual contenders.
A surprising second-round loss to Miami in the playoff
bubble last year could have caused Antetokounmpo to
start planning his exit from Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo instead doubled down by signing that extension.
“This is my city,” Antetokounmpo said. “They trust me. They believe in me. They believe in us.”
His love affair with the Milwaukee area was evident Wednesday
morning as he went on Instagram Live and ordered 50
chicken nuggets at a local Chick-fil-a drive-through with
his trophies in his car. When fans started approaching his vehicle, Antetokounmpo chatted with them and let them take pictures.
The Bucks didn’t have the smooth regular season they’d
enjoyed the last couple of years.
Jrue Holiday, the team’s top offseason
addition, missed 10 games due to COVID-19. After entering
the playoffs as the NBA’S top overall
seed in 2019 and 2020, the Bucks posted the
seventh-best record in the league and had the East’s No. 3 seed
this year.