‘I killed him’: Giannis Antetokounmpo spills on embarrassing rookie who trash talked him – but not really

20/10/2022 03:31

If you are a rookie and meeting just the reigning NBA MVP for the first time in a scrimmage, it’s probably not the best idea to go up to that dude and talk junk in his face. But that was exactly what Milwaukee Bucks two-way forward Sandro Mamukelashvili once did just before the 2021-22 NBA season. Giannis Antetokounmpo remembers it so vividly, and he recounted to Eric Nehm of The Atheltic what happened and how he absolutely dominated Mamukelashvili in that scrimmage. “He said, ‘Yo, Giannis, I’m gonna shut you down in practice today.’ and I was just tying my shoe, but he did not know me,” Antetokounmpo told The Athletic. “It was like our first interaction, first time to meet somebody, but he didn’t know me. And he is like a kid that has so much energy, he loves to talk too much. He was like, ‘I’m gonna shut you down today. I’m going to bust your ass.’ And I was just tying my shoes. And I can see Jrue, I can see Khris was like …” At that time, Giannis Antetokounmpo was the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, having just won the award for the second season in a row. Mamukelashvili, on the other hand, had just been selected in the second round of the 2021 NBA Draft (54th overall) by the Indiana Pacers before he was traded to the Bucks. But Mamukelashvili was confident. After all, he was a star for the Seton Hall Pirates with whom he played four years in college. The NBA is different though. Playing against someone like Giannis Antetokounmpo in practice is much more different than going up against Myles Powell. Mamukelashvili would learn his lesson right away. “They had the face (too),” Antetokounmpo recounted to The Athletic. “And I just, I didn’t say a word to him. I just tied my shoes. I did my lift, I had my vitamin. Practice started, I had one target: Mamu. And I killed him. The Bucks posted a video on the Bucks’ Instagram, social media.” In any case, at least Mamukelashvili has a cool story to tell his grandkids one day about the time he got bullied by Giannis Antetokounmpo.   The post ‘I killed him’: Giannis Antetokounmpo spills on embarrassing rookie who trash talked him – but not really appeared first on ClutchPoints.