Giannis Antetokounmpo decided to take matters into his own hands during a frustrating game against the Timberwolves and in bizarre scenes, booed his own home fans.
By half time, the fans at Fiserv Forum had had enough. Milwaukee were down 76-45 to the Timberwolves, who were playing without their star players Rudy Gobert and Anthony Edwards. The fans let out some loud boos at the teams went to the locker rooms.
In the third quarter, Giannis deicided to boo his fans back.
FULL MOMENT: Giannis boos back at Bucks crowd during blowout pic.twitter.com/MyShKbaYcE
— NBAbzy (@nbabzyy) January 14, 2026
After the game, told reporters that he did not remember being booed by home fans before.
“I was definitely booing back,” Giannis said. “When I get booed, I boo back. I’ve been doing it all season. You [reporters] haven’t been with me on the road. Whenever I get booed, I boo back.”
A reporter piped up, “But it’s a home game.”
To which Giannis replied, “No, no, it does not matter. It doesn’t matter, I play basketball for my teammates. I play basketball for myself and my family. When people don’t believe in me, I don’t tend to be with them. I tend to be against them. I tend to do what I’m here to do, what I’m good at, right?
“I think I’m like a maverick. I’ve always been that way, so won’t change now, it doesn’t matter if I am home, away. But, yeah, I’ve never been a part of something like that before, and I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t. But everybody has the opinion to do what they want to do; I’m not gonna tell them what to do or how to act when we don’t play hard, we lose games, or maybe not where we’re supposed to be. And I don’t think anybody has the right to tell me how I should act on the basketball court after I have been here 13 years. And I’m basically the all-time leader in everything.”
Head coach Doc Rivers believed tired legs played a role in his team’s sluggish game. But Antetokounmpo disagreed.
“I don’t think it’s dead legs,” he said. “Were we tired? Yeah, a little bit. We had a day off yesterday. I don’t see the reason.
“It’s not dead legs. I’m never going to say I didn’t have legs. I’m going to say that I could do things better. My effort wasn’t there. Maybe I wasn’t as focused as I should. And then after that, when I look at myself, I look at overall the team, what we can do better, but I don’t think it’s dead legs. That cannot be an excuse.”
READ MORE: Rich Paul Floats Bold Jaren Jackson Jr.-Austin Reaves Trade Idea
