The defending NBA most valuable player is denying the words a Harvard University professor claimed he said about how a return to the Milwaukee Bucks after his contract ends would be “a lot more difficult” if the team doesn’t perform to his standards.
Giannis Antetokounmpo “never used those words in my life” in a conversation about the words cited in a study by Harvard about the Bucks’ meteoric rise from 15-win seasons to championship contender.
Giannis refuted the quote attributed to him in the Harvard Business School case study. Said his girlfriend asked him yesterday if he really said that. “If you kind of read the last quote, I’ve never used those words in my life,” he responded.
— Matt Velazquez (@Matt_Velazquez) October 24, 2019
He said those words three minutes into this video:
“We’re gonna play a real @NBA game tonight! I’m excited that we can go out there and show everybody what we’ve been working on.”#FearTheDeer | @Giannis_An34 pic.twitter.com/JYSmXTgqcs
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) October 24, 2019
Velazquez writes that Bucks co-owner Jamie Dinan believes Antetokounmpo told Harvard researchers those words.
Antetokounmpo’s contract allows for him to become a free agent after 2021. He has stated multiple times that he intends on playing with the Bucks for the entirety of his career.
The Bucks would be able to sign him next off-season to what’s called the “Supermax” contract, at five years, $253 million according to the Journal Sentinel.
