Bucks' Giannis Antetokounmpo Downplays Secret Meeting with Damian Lillard, Doc Rivers

Homecourt advantage in the first round of the 2025 NBA playoffs is rapidly slipping out of the Milwaukee Bucks' fingers.

In the immediate aftermath of the Bucks' 104-93 defeat to the Golden State Warriors on March 18, head coach Doc Rivers held a meeting with nine-time All-Stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, per longtime NBA insider Chris Haynes.

Sources: With Bucks struggling and after dispirited loss to Warriors, Doc Rivers called a meeting with his two superstars: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard. Details inside #haynesbriefs pic.twitter.com/lhC0PfREoG
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) March 19, 2025

Haynes' sources told him that the meeting "was an open forum for both stars to provide input on ways to improve the team. It was a constructive session, with each individual being allowed to share their perspective. Now this meeting occurred on the heels of the Bucks' offense sputtering as of late. And they've dropped five of their last seven games."

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The Bucks have gone 2-1 since then but coughed up an unhappy Phoenix Suns club on Monday night, 108-106.

With a 40-31 record, Milwaukee is now two games behind the 42-29 Indiana Pacers for the rights to the Eastern Conference's No. 4 seed and homecourt advantage in the contest's first round.

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During a recent interview with Sam Amick of The Athletic, Antetokounmpo took pains to downplay the contents of their meeting. The 6-foot-11 superstar claimed that their meeting was "a conversation."

“It’s a conversation, it’s not unique, it’s a conversation with your coach,” Antetokounmpo claimed. “I have multiple conversations with Doc — on the plane, on the bus, after games, during games. Just conversations."

Individually, the 2021 league champ has looked like his superstar self of late, although the club's floor spacing has been cramped thanks to the trade additions of forward Kyle Kuzma and Kevin Porter Jr. — both perhaps necessary additions for an athletic upgrade.

"We need to do this. We need to do that. It’s not something more than a conversation, you know?" the two-time league MVP noted. "It’s not more. I don’t know if people want to make it more [than that]. It’s not more. It’s that — you’ve just gotta lead. And it’s the truth."

Through 59 healthy games this year, the eight-time All-NBA honoree is averaging 30.2 points on 60 percent shooting from the field and 60.2 percent from the foul line, 12.0 rebounds and 5.9 assists.

This Giannis Antetokounmpo guy is pretty good. Oso Ighodaro is still trying to figure out where Giannis went pic.twitter.com/zIvov2cMtf
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) March 25, 2025

Lillard is putting up good numbers, but at 34 he seems to have lost a step athletically. The 6-foot-2 Weber State product has always been a minus defensively, and that's only been compounded with age.

Milwaukee seems at the very least to be a tier below the East's top two teams, the 57-14 Cleveland Cavaliers, the 53-19 Boston Celtics. The Bucks would be hard-pressed to beat other of those squads, and careless losses late into the year don't exactly a convincing case otherwise.

"Sometimes the coach has got to come out and tell you, 'Hey, you guys are not leading right now. You’re overthinking everything. You guys are not making it easy for yourself. You guys, you’re not blah, blah, blah,'” Antetokounmpo added.

The 44-26 New York Knicks, the East's No. 3 seed, and the Pacers seem fairly mortal, as do the 40-32 Detroit Pistons. Given that Antetokounmpo would be the best player in any of those series, the Bucks would at least have a shot of vanquishing those squads. The depth of the Cavaliers and Celtics, plus the talent of top stars like Donovan Mitchell, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Darius Garland, could make a series win a tall task for Milwaukee.

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