Following Greece’s victory over Great Britain in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers last night, head coach Thanasis Skourtopoulos believes that Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo will be available for at least one of the international windows.
Due to the NBA schedule, Antetokounmpo is unable to represent Greece during the November windows. He missed out on the recent Eurobasket due to a knee problem and Skourtopoulos mentioned that there was some miscommunication with the Bucks on the matter which could’ve been avoided.
“We will see his schedule and we will see the program they’ll have from Milwaukee,” Skourtopoulos said. “And we’ll decide what is best for him and for the team. I can say right now that Giannis will continue with our team.
“Last summer’s problem was something serious. Maybe if we had better communication with the Bucks, we could have “saved” it earlier. And that’s the mistake. But for sure, Giannis will continue with our team.”
As for playing for Greece again – Skourtopoulos is positive that fans will see the free-scoring Bucks player in Hellas colours, as well as the other NBA stars, George Papagiannis, Kostas Koufos and Tyler Dorsey.
“The Milwaukee Bucks will probably be at the first round of the playoffs,” said Skourtopoulos. “We also have three more players in the NBA. For sure, Giannis is the big star.
“We’re going to talk with them (Bucks) after the end of their games. Maybe I will travel to the States to talk with them. We have two games on 29 of June and 2 of July and then the first 15 days of September. We believe that Giannis will be with us at least at one of these (windows).”
