Giannis Anetokounmpo Throws Entire Team Under the Bus as Court-Side Visuals Raise Doubts on His Future With Bucks Locker Room

Damian Lillard is out indefinitely. Bobby Portis and some other veteran players are still a few games from returning. This has put the Milwaukee Bucks in severe trouble. Damage control is necessary at least after their eye-opening loss to the Atlanta Hawks. The loss showcased the Bucks’ poor infrastructure as a team as Trae Young ran circles around their defense. It left Giannis Antetokounmpo fuming.

On one of the possessions after the Hawks generated a steal, the Greek Freak slammed his towel to the ground. The stretch without Lillard and health getting back in is getting to the franchise talisman. Clearly, the two-time MVP was dejected after the loss. Antetokounmpo didn’t spare any room for mercy as he questioned the Bucks intent.

“We didn’t play well. Our urgency was not there. I feel like it was for majority of the game but they was just getting easy looks and it was knocking them down… I feel like the team had the right approach like starting the game first quarter the ball was moving. We got like 45, 40 points or something I don’t remember. But we had the right approach man everybody was touching it guys were playing the right way we were defending well and after that I think we went away from it,” Antetokounmpo said about the team.

The underlying message though was direct, “We got to figure out how we got to get out of this funk that we are and we will. We will after as a team we will,” said the franchise pillar.

Giannis slamming his towel on the ground, it’s so over man pic.twitter.com/wEcnpsMt8G

— BucksShowYo (@BucksShowYo) March 31, 2025

What Giannis Antetokounmpo expects isn’t for a single player to take charge. He wishes for the Bucks to look and play as a team. Tonight, largely led by Young’s influence, the Hawks recorded 15 more assists than the Bucks. Without moving the ball, the Bucks offense primarily is Antetokounmpo. While today they did have some contributions from Kuzma and Kevin Porter Jr., it wasn’t enough.

Their identity as a team needs to change with Damian Lillard not having a return date. And doing that is extremely complicated this late in the season. Hence, Antetokounmpo’s mindset is a surprise.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has seen worse

Antetokounmpo’s anger leaking out at the sidelines could be viewed as a concern. The Bucks cornerstone is devoted to remaining competitive. At this moment, it seems hard. The Bucks can’t change in an instant. Yet, Antetokounmpo tries to galvanize the team with his actions.

“As a leader, I just try to lead by example and try to be as vocal as possible. When they see me I just try as many possessions that I can to play hard, see me play hard hopefully they can follow my lead. And then um if they don’t I have to be vocal which I try to be and that’s pretty much all you can do right now,” Giannis Antetokounmpo explained.

He’s backing on Bobby Portis and Jericho Sims to return and spark a change in the side. However, although it’s been a sloppy stretch, Giannis Antetokounmpo is satisfied with how the players are approaching it. The Bucks don’t look hopeless. They are still competing with the likes of Porter Jr. and Ryan Rollins stepping up.

That is enough for the Greek Freak to be optimistic. Hence, despite the circumstances, he doesn’t believe this is among his tougher stretches as a leader. Antetokounmpo thinks that was during “my third year or my fourth year in the league,”. At that point, Antetokounmpo was developing as a leader and their roster wasn’t nearly as decorated. But they still found a way to win games and make the postseason.

Now, with 12 seasons of experience and having won the NBA championship, the Bucks kingpin is much more confident in his abilities as a leader. He knows what it takes to win, and the things he can do to motivate the team. After all that, it’s all about how the team can align the common objective and play together.

The Bucks might be in a debacle right now, but with Giannis Antetokounmpo, they can at least remain steady. It’s about figuring out how to cope with the loss of Lillard who may not return until late in the playoffs or even the entire season. It’s a major wound for the Bucks. But at this point, all that can help is to show a fighter’s spirit.

Do you think the Bucks can find themselves as a team before the postseason? Let us know your views in the comments below.

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