Giannis Criticizes NBA for Leaving Bucks Off Christmas Day Schedule

Apparently, all Giannis Antetokounmpo really wants for Christmas is to play basketball. Traditionally, playing on this day is viewed as one of the league’s most special dates on the NBA calendar, and the Bucks don’t understand why they won’t be one of the 10 teams that will compete. 

In the past six campaigns, Milwaukee has been scheduled to play on December 25th, but this run finally came to an end this 2024. The Greek superstar was the first to comment on this decision, as many of his teammates addressed the media with the same doubts.

The two-time league MVP confessed he was “a little bit upset or kind of questioning” the league’s schedule which did not include the Wisconsin club in the Christmas Day festivities. “There’s gotta be an algorithm because if it’s — how can I say — like a popularity contest, I can give you facts,” he told the press.

Giannis Antetokounmpo calls out the NBA for not scheduling him, Damian Lillard, and the Bucks to play on Christmas Day

“There’s gotta be an algorithm because if it’s — how can I say — like a popularity contest, I can give you facts. You want me to? Two of the NBA All-Star… pic.twitter.com/iWGUVvrQJm

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) December 23, 2024

“You want me to? Two of the NBA All-Star starters, Dame [Lillard] and Giannis, and the All-Star MVP, right? And the No. 1 vote-getter — not in the East, in the whole NBA — is not in the Christmas game? What? No, it’s a fact,” he insisted on Wednesday. “The votes came out last year. I was the No. 1. Dame was a starter. I was a starter. Dame won the MVP. Dame won the 3-point contest. Maybe that has nothing to do with it.”

Giannis then added: “I believe we were one of the best teams in the East last year. Maybe not this year, OK. We don’t get a Christmas game. Why? Because we got a small market? Maybe that’s the case. Or I want to believe what I tell you, I think there’s an algorithm within the NBA that they choose which team will get the most attention, the most viewership that day.”

Not only have the Bucks won five of their last six outings going into Monday night’s game against Chicago, but they also just took some the NBA Cup after beating the Thunder in Las Vegas. After a poor start of the season, the team is back to being one of the Eastern Conference contenders.

“A lot of teams play on Christmas, so it’s not like it’s two or four teams and we gotta figure out who we’re going to pick in these spots,” Brook Lopez echoed his squad’s sentiment. “No, they have a lot of games on Christmas. So, yeah, I do think it’s disrespectful, but I don’t make the schedule. I don’t know how that happened.”