MILWAUKEE — Doc Rivers wasn’t here for the headlines. Not the speculation, not the subtext, and certainly not the notion that the Bucks spent their summer worrying about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s rumored interest in New York.
“No, I think you guys [in New York] had a lot of drama,” Rivers said before Tuesday’s matchup against the Knicks. “We had none. That’s actual factual.”
Antetokounmpo reportedly met with Bucks general manager Jon Horst during the offseason and, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, said his preferred trade destination would be the Knicks if Milwaukee were to suffer another early playoff exit — their fourth straight.
Pressed again on whether the rumors created any distractions for his star forward, Rivers doubled down.
“I’ve already said that. I’m not gonna keep repeating it,” he shot. “You want me to say it again for you? I’ve said it 100 times. And we mean that.”
Antetokounmpo, meanwhile, hasn’t exactly poured water on the fire. He’s made clear that his only priority is competing for championships, but his comments left the smallest crack in the door.
“I believe in this team. I believe in my teammates. I’m here to lead this team to whatever we can go,” he said during training camp in early October. “The moment that I step in on this [FiServ Forum] court, in this facility, I wear this jersey. The rest does not matter. I’m locked into whatever I have in front of me.
“Now, if in six, seven months I change my mind, that’s human, too. You’re allowed to make any decision you want. But I’m locked in. I’m locked into this team.”
Rivers’ stance hasn’t changed since his first press conference of the season — that the story lives more in the headlines than in Milwaukee’s locker room.
“You create the story, and then you report on the story you created,” he said on Oct. 8. “And that’s what it feels like. It gets old for us. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing we can do about it.
“But I can tell you this: Jon [Horst] has never called a team about Giannis. That has never happened. Until that happens, you don’t really have a story.”
Antetokounmpo, now in the first season of a three-year, $175 million extension, holds a player option for 2027-28, the same year his contract would allow him to test the market again.
The numbers, as always, speak for themselves. He’s the only player in league history to average at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in three consecutive seasons, and he’s on early pace to do it again — averaging 36 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists to start the year.
“Oh man, he’s a monster. He just causes everybody to pay attention to him all the time. And you can’t just do it with one guy,” Knicks head coach Mike Brown said of Antetokounmpo. “With as talented as players are, it’s literally five guys who have to guard the basketball. That holds true more with him than anybody else just because he’s so long, smart and strong. He can finish in traffic. So you’ve got to show him bodies early.”
RIVERS TALKS THIBS
Rivers was shocked but not surprised the Knicks moved on from Tom Thibodeau after consecutive 50-win seasons and an Eastern Conference Finals trip.
“I was surprised by that, but it’s the NBA, so as a coach you learn to get over it quickly and just keep moving,” he said ahead of Tuesday’s tipoff. “That’s just what you do. We have a lot of excellent coaches in the league. Thibs was one of them and Mike’s another one. So they have another excellent coach and that’s just the way it is.”
Rivers added he can already see Mike Brown’s imprint. Kind of.
“Well they’re trying to play faster, and I don’t know if they necessarily are playing faster, but they’re trying to get up more threes and they are doing that,” he said. “And so we want to try to get them off that line.”
SIMS IN THE MIX
On Jericho Sims, whom the Knicks dealt to Milwaukee last season for Delon Wright, Rivers said the big man remains in the mix even with a smaller role to start the year.
“He’s been great. He may play tonight,” Rivers said. “He’s a phenomenal defensive player, one of our guys who can switch one through five. He’ll guard anybody, rebounds the ball, runs the floor, so he’s another young kid that’s gonna keep getting better for us.”
HARD HAT, VEST & TIMBS
As for New York’s new Defensive Player of the Game setup, Brown credited Knicks Director of Communications Derek Lapinski for the Timbs touch on top of his original idea.
“We just thought that the hard hat, the vest and the Timbs — you think about New York,” said Brown. “That’s what New York is.”
