Jamal CollierSep 29, 2025, 05:24 PM ET
- Jamal Collier is an NBA reporter at ESPN. Collier covers the Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls and the Midwest region of the NBA, including stories such as Minnesota’s iconic jersey swap between Anthony Edwards and Justin Jefferson. He has been at ESPN since Sept. 2021 and previously covered the Bulls for the Chicago Tribune. You can reach out to Jamal on Twitter @JamalCollier or via email Jamal.Collier@espn.com.
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo reiterated his desire to win a second championship Monday and confirmed reporting from ESPN’s Shams Charania that he was open-minded over the summer about exploring whether his best long-term fit was in Milwaukee or elsewhere.
“The same thing I’ve been saying my whole career, I want to be in a team that allows me and gives me a chance to win a championship,” said Antetokounmpo, who is sitting out the start of training camp after testing positive for COVID-19. “I think it’s a disservice to basketball, just to the game, to not want it to compete in a high level, to want your season to end in April.”
The Bucks have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in three consecutive seasons meaning Antetokounmpo, 30, has not played in a game beyond the first round since 2022.
“It’s not the first time. I had the same thoughts last year,” Antetokounmpo said. “I had the same thoughts two years ago. I had the same thoughts five years ago. It is never going to change. I want to be among the best. I want to compete with the best, and I want to win another championship.”
Still, Antetokounmpo sounded optimistic Monday during a video call from Greece when speaking about the state of the Bucks roster, saying he was excited about the addition of center Myles Turner and for a chance to play with younger, more athletic teammates.
“I deal with what I have in front of me,” he said. “I think it’s a great team. It’s a sleeper, and a lot of people might not take it serious, but I think we are a very, very dangerous team.”
Earlier this month, Antetokounmpo led Team Greece to a bronze medal during the FIBA EuroBasket 2025 tournament, playing alongside his two brothers in an experience he called “the greatest basketball accomplishment” of his life.
Editor’s Picks
2 Related
In the third-place game Sept. 14, he scored 30 points on 9-of-11 shooting with 17 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocks. Yet, as the rest of the Bucks arrived in Milwaukee for the start of camp, Antetokounmpo remained home in Greece.
“We don’t think it’s safe for him to be around our team,” general manager Jon Horst said Monday. “As soon as he is, he’ll be back with us.”
Despite Antetokounmpo acknowledging the fact that he explored his options this summer, the Bucks preached confidence Monday about Antetokounmpo’s commitment to the franchise.
“This team is built to maximize Giannis, but Giannis can actually maximize this team,” Horst said. “This is a team that is really hungry to earn whatever we get, and they want to deserve to win. And that’s going to be our style of play, that’s going to be playing together, and that’s going to feature the best player in the world, and Giannis and a bunch of guys that fit him really, really well.”
Bucks managing governor Wes Edens echoed Horst’s confidence in Antetokounmpo, emphasizing a conversation they had in June after the end of the season.
“He made it clear that he was very committed to Milwaukee,” Edens said Monday. “He likes being here, likes his family being here. He thinks that the team is — obviously we’ve had some kind of bad fortune in these last couple of years in the playoffs — but there’s a lot of positives.”
However, Antetokounmpo said later in the day that he did not recall having that conversation.
“I believe in my teammates,” Antetokounmpo said. “That’s pretty much it. I believe in the people around me. I believe in my teammates. I believe in the moves that they make. Hopefully, we can get on the same page and understand what’s at risk right now. The last three years we’ve been eliminated in the first round, so it’s not much to talk about. We just got to put our heads down and stay locked in the whole year long and try to win some games and hopefully get in the playoffs and then don’t get eliminated in the first round. That’s pretty much it. And then we go from there.”
Discover more from 6up.net
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.