Milwaukee Bucks Doc Rivers poses for a photo during the team's NBA basketball media day Monday, Sept. 29, 2025, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Not even a case of COVID-19 could prevent Giannis Antetokounmpo from discussing his excitement regarding his upcoming season with the new-look Milwaukee Bucks.

Antetokounmpo remained back in Greece recovering while the Bucks held their media day Monday in Milwaukee. The two-time MVP said he’s waiting for a negative test before joining his teammates.

“I’m really bummed that I’m not able to be there from Day 1,” Antetokounmpo said in a Zoom session with reporters. “I want my teammates to feel my presence and feel my seriousness and how much I want to compete and for us to have a great year, but at the end of the day they will understand and if I’m not there today to see them I’ll be there in a few days and we can get the ball rolling.”

The Bucks are relieved Antetokounmpo will be back with them eventually as they try to bounce back from a third straight first-round playoff loss. After Milwaukee fell to Indiana in a series in which seven-time All-NBA guard Damian Lillard ruptured his Achilles tendon, speculation swirled regarding whether Antetokounmpo might request a trade.

Antetokounmpo acknowledged Monday he did ponder his future, but he also pointed out this is something he has done throughout his career. Antetokounmpo has made no secret about how he always wants to play for a team committed to competing for championships.

“I think it’s a disservice to basketball, a disservice to the game to not want to compete at a high level, to want your season to end in April,” Antetokounmpo said.

Yet Antetokounmpo is back in Milwaukee even after three straight early playoff exits, though how he got to that decision remains somewhat unclear.

Bucks owner Wes Edens spoke Monday about a chat he had with Antetokounmpo after the 2024-25 season.

“I had a great conversation with Giannis back in June out here, and he made it clear that he was very committed to Milwaukee,” Edens said. “He likes being here. He likes his family being here.”

Antetokounmpo was asked about that conversation.

“I can’t recall that meeting,” Antetokounmpo replied.

But the 30-year-old forward also detailed why he believes the Bucks could make a deep playoff run after undergoing a dramatic roster overhaul.

“Right now, Milwaukee, I think, is a great team, is a sleeper,” Antetokounmpo said. “A lot of people might not take us serious, but I think we’re a very, very dangerous team.”

The Bucks’ offseason moves included waiving Lillard, who isn’t expected to play this season, and paying him just over $20 million over the next five seasons via the NBA’s stretch provision. The money saved from that move enabled the Bucks to sign Myles Turner away from the Pacers.

Antetokounmpo called Turner “one of the best bigs in the league” and praised how well their games could fit together. Antetokounmpo added that he has spoken with Lillard since the moves. Although Antetokounmpo said he wanted to keep the details of that conversation to the two of them, he added that “my friendship with him will be bigger than basketball.”

Lillard wasn’t the only notable player to depart Milwaukee. The exits of Brook Lopez and Pat Connaughton leave Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo as the only remaining players from the Bucks’ 2021 championship team. Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Giannis’ older brother, is back with the Bucks this year after missing last season with a torn Achilles tendon.

Milwaukee’s roster now is younger and more athletic.

“We’ve just got to put our butts down, put our heads down and stay locked in the whole year long and try to win some games and hopefully get in the playoffs and then don’t get eliminated in the first round,” Antetokounmpo said. “That’s pretty much it. And then we go from there.”

The Bucks plan to have Antetokounmpo handle the ball more and surround him with shooters, similar to the strategy they used while surging late in the 2024-25 regular season when Lillard was out with deep vein thrombosis.

“I just felt strongly that to take that next step, we’d need more speed, we’d need more guys who could guard multiple positions,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said. “And I thought we needed to play a different brand of offense as well. Putting Giannis on the ball has been huge for us. It gets us downhill. It gets the ball up the floor faster, which is important for us.”

Antetokounmpo has enough faith in himself to believe he can help the Bucks contend.

He’s coming off a season in which he finished third in the MVP balloting while ranking second in the league in scoring (30.4), sixth in rebounding (11.9) and 13th in assists (6.5). He heads to training camp with plenty of momentum after leading Greece to a bronze medal at EuroBasket.

“My confidence is at an all-time high right now,” Antetokounmpo said. “I feel really good about myself. I feel really good about the team. I’m excited to be there.”

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