Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo has revealed he is part of the ownership group of the city’s Major League Baseball franchise, the Milwaukee Brewers. Just weeks after helping the Bucks to their first NBA title since 1970, Antetokounmpo is investing in the city’s other major league sports franchise. It was a commercial decision that he described as a “dream come true” for a “kid from Sepolia” in Greece that was “born from immigrant parents”.
Antetokounmpo was pictured wearing a Brewers jersey, donning the number 34 – the same as the one he wears in the NBA. The arrangement between Antetokounmpo and the Brewers’ principal owner Mark Attanasio was reached back in May, but both parties agreed to wait until now to reveal it publicly to avoid detracting from the Bucks’ end-of-season playoffs and the beginning of the Brewers’ MLB campaign.
Antetokounmpo owes a great debt to the city of Milwaukee
Attanasio confirmed that Antetokounmpo is the first new investor on board the Brewers’ ownership group since he assumed the helm of the franchise 16 years ago. With the 26-year-old beginning to amass an immense personal fortune, the Greek star admitted he had also looked into purchasing a soccer club in Europe. However, it was eventually decided that an investment in the Brewers would be a better strategic move to put his faith in the city’s other major league franchise insisting that Milwaukee “made him who he is today”.
There is a sense that Antetokounmpo wants to be part of breathing new life into the Brewers’ MLB franchise as well as the Bucks’ NBA story. The Brewers have never achieved World Series success and it’s four decades since they last won a pennant. The 26-year-old is keen to remain “involved in the community” when he is not training and performing on the court. He acknowledges that the Bucks “invested a lot” in him to bring him stateside and he is passionate about investing “a lot of him” back to the city. One obvious way to give back to the people of Milwaukee would be to deliver successive NBA finals victories.
With the 2021-22 NBA season set to return to its traditional schedule, starting from mid-October and running through to mid-April, the anticipation is already hotting up among Bucks fans who will be wondering whether Antetokounmpo and co. can lead Milwaukee to back-to-back NBA championships. It looks like being a stiff test of the Bucks’ credentials in Week 1 when they face the Brooklyn Nets. The latest NBA odds for the first round of games suggest the teams cannot be separated in the Moneyline market. Nor can they be separated on the point spread NBA predictions, which some NBA bettors use to counteract lopsided moneyline odds.
Interestingly, the Bucks are one of the only teams in the history of the NBA to begin the season after winning the NBA championship as underdogs. Their Week 1 opponents, the Brooklyn Nets, are considered the favorites along with the iconic LA Lakers. If the Bucks really are hall-of-fame material, following up 2020-21 with a second NBA championship would be the stuff of dreams – particularly when other franchises have strengthened, and the Bucks have made some questionable recruitment decisions of their own. The most notable being the release of forward PJ Tucker, who was integral to last season’s title bid.
