Giannis Antetokounmpo has vehemently denied being involved in the process that led to the Milwaukee Bucks deciding to fire Adrian Griffin. In fact, the former back-to-back MVP made it abundantly clear that he has nothing against his now-former coach.
Speaking to the press on Wednesday after Milwaukee’s convincing 126-116 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Giannis got brutally honest about his reaction to Griffin’s sudden exit.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Is Hurting
A narrative popped up about Giannis supposedly losing faith in Griffin before the rookie coach was axed. Further reports indicated that Griffin also lost the locker room in the weeks leading up to his departure.
While both of these storylines might be true, Antetokounmpo remains adamant that he did not have a role in Griffin’s ouster. In fact, the Bucks talisman confessed that Coach Griff’s sudden exit has him hurting:
“It’s tough,” Antetokounmpo said, via Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “You build a relationship with people and then all of a sudden, boom they’re not here. For a coach like Griff, I think from day one, everything was about togetherness. He was always leading this group into the direction that we set in the beginning of the year.
“Him not being here, at the end of the day, we’re human. It hurts. Everybody. But at the end of the day, we gotta keep moving forward. We have a goal in our head, which is to be the best basketball team that we can be. Obviously, there are high expectations from the ownership group, from the front office, from ourselves to be great and this is the business of the NBA.”
As rough and unemotional as it may sound, Giannis opted to take the “NBA is a business” route in his attempt to close the page on this chapter. As he said, nobody is happy to see Coach Griff go, but ultimately, the Bucks have to do what’s best for their squad.
Simply put, the team determined that Griffin was not the man who was going to lead this team to a championship, and they have decided to rip the bandaid now, so to speak, as opposed to letting this die a slow death.
For More Wisconsin Sports:
Follow me on Twitter at @PaoloSongcoNBA, and follow us @WiSportsHeroics. Also, check out our Merchandise Here! Get 20% off with the code “WSH.” You can also reach out to Paolo Songco via email at pao.songco@gmail.com. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest in ALL of Wisconsin sports, click here! Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee Bucks, Wisconsin Badgers.