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Giannis Antetokounmpo Had a Funny Reaction to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Winning MVP

The Greek Freak was also a finalist for the award.

Brigid Kennedy

Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo during the All-Star game in February 2024.
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo during the All-Star game in February 2024. / Catalina Fragoso/NBAE via Getty Images
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Not long after he stirred the pot with a trade speculation-fueling social media Q&A over the weekend, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo has returned with another wave-making post on X (formerly Twitter), this time concerning his reaction to the news that Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had won the 2024-25 MVP award.

In response to ESPN's Shams Charania, who broke the story on Wednesday afternoon, Giannis wrote online: "What??!!!! Did shams got hacked no way this is true??!!"

Unsurprisingly, the post led to some confusion.

But I wouldn't worry—although it's hard to tell exactly what he was going for with this, the forward was probably just having a little bit of fun online.

SGA has been the darling of the MVP race for some time now, especially with the Nikola Jokic-led Denver Nuggets out of the playoffs, so Giannis, who was also a finalist, was likely not shocked by this development at all; indeed, it's more probable he was just being a bit of a sarcastic troll.

Not to mention he has already won the MVP award twice; sure, it would be great to win again, but perhaps he feels less precious about it now.

As for the "Shams got hacked" bit, that harkens back to the bombshell Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade from February, after which both fans and stars thought Charania's account had been broken into considering the unlikelihood of the news.

Case (probably) closed.

Although he didn't win, Antetokounmpo still had himself a stellar season, averaging 30.4 points (second only to SGA at 32.7), 11.9 rebounds (6th in the league), and 6.5 assists (13th) per game.

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Brigid Kennedy
BRIGID KENNEDY

Brigid Kennedy is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, she covered political news, sporting news and culture at TheWeek.com before moving to Livingetc, an interior design magazine. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, dual majoring in television, radio and film (from the Newhouse School of Public Communications) and marketing managment (from the Whitman School of Management). Offline, she enjoys going to the movies, reading and watching the Steelers.

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