Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks ‘pissed’ to be left off NBA’s Christmas slate

All they want for Christmas is… to play. 

The Bucks are having a hard time understanding why on Wednesday they won’t be one of the 10 teams playing on Christmas Day, which is viewed as one of the NBA’s signature days on the league calendar.

Milwaukee has been a Christmas Day staple for the NBA, having been scheduled to play on Dec. 25 for the past six seasons, but that came to an end this year and the decision had several Bucks players questioning why. 

“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 told The Athletic. “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.”

But there didn’t appear to be a player more worked up than Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo. 

Antetokounmpo admitted that he was “a little bit upset or kind of questioning” the NBA’s decision not to include them in the Christmas Day festivities before trying to make sense of it all. 

“There’s gotta be an algorithm because if it’s — how can I say — like a popularity contest, I can give you facts,” Antetokounmpo told the outlet. “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.

“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. 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.”

The Bucks, who recently took home the NBA Cup, had been winners of five of their last six games going into Monday night’s game against the Bulls and they’re in the pack with some of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. 

The Christmas Day slate includes the Knicks, Spurs, Timberwolves, Mavericks, 76ers, Celtics, Lakers, Warriors, Nuggets and Suns. 

The one bright side is that Antetokounmpo and his Milwaukee teammates will be able to celebrate Christmas at home for the first time since 2017.

“I’m pissed,” Antetokounmpo said. “But I’m happy at the same time because I get to for the first time since 2017 — yeah, 2017 was the last time I actually spent Christmas like a regular person — I didn’t play a noon game. I get to, for once, sit on my couch and be entertained and watch NBA basketball, be entertained by other players and not the one doing the entertaining.”