Bucks Players Blast NBA for Leaving Them Off Christmas Day Schedule

Giannis Antetokounmpo and company sounded off on the NBA's schedule choices.

Antetokounmpo is averaging 32.7 points per game this season. / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The Milwaukee Bucks would like to work on Christmas Day this year.

Despite being one of the Eastern Conference's best rosters, Milwaukee wasn't picked as one of 10 NBA teams to play on Wednesday during the league's annual holiday showcase.

"I’m a little bit upset or kind of questioning it,” Giannis Antetokounmpo told The Athletic's Eric Nehm. “But I really believe there’s probably an algorithm that takes place within the NBA that shows who is the most attractive team or which team gets the most attention for them to be able to play in the Christmas game.

"There’s gotta be an algorithm because if it’s ... like a popularity contest, I can give you facts. Two of the NBA All-Star starters, Dame [Lillard] and Giannis, and the All-Star MVP, right? And the No. 1 vote-getter [Antetokounmpo]—not in the East, in the whole NBA—is not in the Christmas game? What? No, it’s a fact. ... We don’t get a Christmas game. Why? Because we got a small market? Maybe that’s the case. Or I want to believe what I tell you, I think there’s an algorithm within the NBA that they choose which team will get the most attention, the most viewership that day.”

Antetokounmpo and the Bucks had been featured in six straight Christmas Day slates until this year, going 3–3 in those games. This year will mark Antetokounmpo's first Christmas Day off work since 2017, his fifth season in the NBA.

"A lot of teams play on Christmas, so it’s not like it’s two or four teams and we gotta figure out who we’re going to pick in these spots," Bucks center Brook Lopez told The Athletic. "No, they have a lot of games on Christmas. So, yeah, I do think it’s disrespectful, but I don’t make the schedule. I don’t know how that happened."

The Bucks remain one of the NBA's most consistent and talented contenders, as they have made the playoffs in eight straight years and won the second championship in franchise history in 2022.

Milwaukee got off to a rough 2–8 start to the 2024-25 season but quickly turned its season around and won the NBA Cup in Las Vegas. The Bucks are 15–12 entering their matchup Monday night against the Chicago Bulls.

The Christmas Day slate, which includes a matchup between LeBron James's Los Angeles Lakers and Steph Curry's Golden State Warriors, will tip off at 12 p.m. ET with a clash between the San Antonio Spurs (15–13) and the New York Knicks (18–10).

---

More of the Latest Around the NBA

feed