Why Giannis Antetokounmpo snapped at reporter amid Bucks’ miserable start

Giannis Antetokounmpo appeared fed up.

The Bucks superstar snapped at reporter Pat Pickens of the Associated Press after a 116-94 loss to the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden on Friday.

While in the locker room following the defeat, Antetokounmpo had been fielding questions in a media scrum.

During one of his answers, Antetokounmpo paused — interrupting his response in the process — and said, “If you don’t want to be here, you can leave. If you don’t want to be here, you can leave,” directed at an unseen person off-screen.

Now, we know what was said and the reason why.

Pickens joined Big 12 Sports Saturday on WISN 12 to detail what happened from his point of view, admitting that he subconsciously sighed while Antetokounmpo was speaking.

“I’ve covered the Bucks a few times in New York,” Pickens said. “[Antetokounmpo is] one of the more thoughtful guys. I love interviewing him. I always love being in scrums with him because I always learn something, I always hear great thoughts. It was very weird. I don’t love being the story. Watching it all unfold on social media was kind of crazy as well.”

WISN notes that fans speculated as to whether or not Antetokounmpo had been referring to his teammates.

Pickens cleared the air, stating, “Unfortunately, it was just me.”

He later added that he wasn’t sure at first if he was the one in the spotlight.

“I thought there might’ve been somebody behind me that did something and then I realized, he was staring right at me,” Pickens admitted. “It took me until the end of the interview. I had to ask a couple other Bucks beat writers, unfortunately, he was talking to me.”

And regarding the sigh, Pickens said, “I didn’t even realize I did it, apparently, it just happened to hit at the exact wrong time.”

The Bucks are in the midst of a miserable start to their season.

The loss dropped Milwaukee to 2-7 on the year and Antetokounmpo has already been linked to trade rumors, which includes the Knicks.