A handful of NBA players have taking to social media and elsewhere to bemoan what they view as substandard accommodations in the Orlando bubble. Don’t expect Giannis Antetokounmpo to join the fray of players complaining about the arguably less-than-ideal situation at the Walt Disney World resorts, though.
The Milwaukee Bucks star credits his rags-to-riches experience of emerging out of poverty growing up in Greece to become a multimillionaire superstar as the reason why he won’t be one of the players griping about the conditions in Orlando.
“I’m in a situation where I’m extremely blessed and I cannot complain. Obviously, it doesn’t matter where you are in life, there’s always something to complain, there’s always a problem and an issue,” Antetokounmpo said, per Eric Woodyard of ESPN. “But I try to kind of not focus on that. So as I said, my apartment in Greece, when I was younger, with my four brothers, was way smaller than the suite that I have in the hotel, so I’m just trying to enjoy the moment.”
Antetokounmpo went on to refer to the NBA’s restart amid the unprecedented circumstances of playing out the season and postseason at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex as “something special.”
“I’m just trying to be in the moment, trying to enjoy every moment, trying to enjoy basketball,” Antetokounmpo continued. “I’m happy that we’re back playing basketball, something that I love doing, so there’s nothing really to complain about.”
Ahead of the NBA’s restart becoming official, Antetokounmpo argued that winning the title under such strange conditions will be the “toughest championship” to claim in league history. Given the unique circumstances, the Bucks superstar will try to keep things as simple as possible and focus on the task at hand.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to go out there and play,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’m not going to try to not be myself.”
Like every other player who has traveled to Orlando, Antetokounmpo has some rust to knock off ahead of the resumption of play tentatively scheduled for July 30. One thing he is not going to dwell on, though, is the current conditions in Orlando that other players have decried over the past week or so.
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