Milwaukee Bucks center Myles Turner revealed Thursday that Giannis Antetokounmpo and others plagued the team with tardiness throughout the season.
“Guys were late all the time,” Turner told New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart on their “Game Recognize Game” podcast. “Guys were showing up to film whenever they wanted to show up, guys were missing meetings. It was one of the craziest things I personally ever experienced. If the plane took off at 2 o’clock, we weren’t leaving until 4:30. I’m being so serious, bro. Guys were an hour late to the plane. It got to the point where I knew not to show up until an hour after they said the plane was taking off. It was crazy.”
Turner, who joined the Bucks on a four-year, $108.87-million deal in free agency last summer following a 10-year run with the Indiana Pacers, said that head coach Doc Rivers wouldn’t fine players to correct negative trends.
Rivers resigned at the end of the season after the Bucks missed the playoffs for the first time in his three-year tenure. Milwaukee went out in the first round of the postseason the two years prior.
Antetokounmpo has been embroiled in trade rumors for months. He’s coming off an injury-plagued season in which he averaged 27.6 points and 9.8 rebounds over 36 appearances. In 2021, the Greek superstar led the Bucks to their first championship in 50 years.
“Giannis is going to show up whenever he wants, really,” Turner said when asked to name the player who’s most likely to arrive late. “I think that this kind of just came with the territory that – and once I saw it was going down, I was like, ‘Hey man, shit, more power to you. They ain’t going to fine you. Shit, do what you do.’
“Except when we were going to Dallas (Turner’s native city). That’s when I was like, ‘All right, come on.'”
Turner posted 11.9 points and 5.3 rebounds in his first season with Milwaukee, down from the 15.6 points and 6.5 boards he averaged in his final campaign with Indiana.
