Former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas clowned Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo for one of his moves during the team’s preseason game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Giannis been in the lab with Hakeem 👀 pic.twitter.com/3ClU0S7B1s
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 15, 2023
Antetokounmpo’s move out of the post was compared to that of former Houston Rockets star Hakeem Olajuwon, but Arenas believes that the Bucks star traveled on the play.
Travel 🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/oQ4LbGsqYU
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) October 16, 2023
In the video, there is certainly a lot of shuffling and moving going on with Antetokounmpo’s pivot foot, which normally would result in a travel. However, it was not called in the game.
Arenas, who has a big personality, wasn’t afraid to call it out on social media.
Since it’s just a preseason game, Lakers fans shouldn’t be too worried about Antetokounmpo getting away with a possible violation.
The Lakers ended up losing to the Bucks on Sunday, dropping them to 2-3 in the preseason.
The team sat several key players including superstar LeBron James, forward Jarred Vanderbilt (who is dealing with a heel injury), guard Gabe Vincent and guard Austin Reaves.
That allowed the Lakers to get longer looks at players like Cam Reddish (10 points, five rebounds, 4-for-11 shooting) and Max Christie (10 points, four rebounds, one steal, 4-for-10 shooting).
Both players could factor into the Lakers’ rotation as the season opens if they impress head coach Darvin Ham.
Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are working on gaining chemistry with new guard Damian Lillard who was acquired in a trade this offseason.
Antetokounmpo, a two-time league MVP, appeared to be in peak form in Sunday’s game, scoring 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting while adding eight rebounds, one assist and two blocks in limited minutes.
Lillard finished with 14 points for the Bucks, but he shot just 3-for-10 from the field and 2-for-7 from beyond the arc in the game.
It’s hard to read too much into preseason games since teams don’t play their normal rotations, so Lakers fans shouldn’t be too worried about the team’s subpar record in the preseason.
As for Antetokounmpo, he may need to clean up his footwork on the move he used against Los Angeles before more people than just Arenas call him out for traveling.
