Giannis Antetokounmpo Snapped On An Assistant And Appeared To Say ‘I’ll F*ck You Up’

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Giannis Antetokounmpo has emerged as one of the most beloved superstars in the NBA and a legitimate MVP candidate. He’s dominated on the court to start the season, building on an incredible 2016-17 campaign, averaging 29.5 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 4.4 assists through his first 17 games of the year.

While his play on the court makes him a certified star, Antetokounmpo is also beloved because he seems to genuinely be one of the nicest guys in the league. However, sometimes the nice kid from Greece can run a little hot when things aren’t going well on the court, like all great competitors, and on Saturday night in Utah things boiled over on the Milwaukee bench in a heated exchange between he and assistant coach Sean Sweeney.

The Bucks fell to 9-9 on the season with a 121-108 loss to the Jazz and Antetokounmpo was visibly frustrated at times over the officiating, so he was already on edge when Sweeney apparently said something to him that set him off. You can see Antetokounmpo jump up from his seat on the bench and he appears to say “I’ll f*ck you up” to Sweeney as teammates and other coaches step in to calm down their star.

It’s as angry as I think most of us have ever seen the normally mild-mannered star, but it’s a reminder that what makes these guys so good at what they do is that they’re all fierce competitors. Not all of them are ruthless of the court in the way that maybe Michael Jordan was, but all the greats, from LeBron James to Kevin Durant to Giannis, who may have the image of being a nice guy off the court are highly competitive once the game starts.

These kinds of interactions happen fairly regularly, especially when a team is in the midst of a frustrating stretch of play like the Bucks. That said, it is a bit jarring to see Antetokounmpo this upset, but when you’re an MVP candidate enduring a 1-3 stretch, emotions can run high while trying to figure out how to right the ship. The sequence that led to the bench altercation saw Antetokounmpo upset with officials over a no-call and then a turnover from Giannis when he didn’t get back on defense (via @AllTheBucks).

You can see Antetokounmpo throw down a chair as he walks to the bench and then that’s when Sweeney starts getting onto him, which resulted in Giannis’ mini-blow up. In a vacuum, this isn’t an awful lot of anything, but it does give us a peek inside how frustrating this recent stretch has been for Milwaukee.

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