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  "path": "/giannis-antetokounmpo-and-the-bucks-are-feuding-right-to-the-end",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-06T17:32:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://defector.com",
  "tags": [
    "NBA",
    "basketball",
    "doc rivers",
    "giannis antetokounmpo",
    "Jon Horst",
    "milwaukee bucks",
    "NBA Player Participation Policy",
    "for sitting star players",
    "Utah Jazz",
    "Washington Wizards",
    "package of anti-tanking proposals"
  ],
  "textContent": "A couple of Antetokounmpos took the court for the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday, in a home win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Neither of them were the good Antetokounmpo. Thanasis, the second-oldest of the five brothers, played two minutes and scored a bucket. Alex, the youngest, played one minute in what was his fourth-ever NBA game, and also scored a bucket. The good Antetokounmpo, Giannis, was in street clothes, missing his 11th straight game since a calf strain. The Bucks say he cannot play because he is injured. Giannis says that he wants to play but the team is forcing him to sit out while healthy. The NBA is investigating the dispute under the Player Participation Policy, which allows the league to punish teams for sitting star players.\n\nThe policy, which was established by the NBA Board of Governors ahead of the 2023–24 season, addresses specifically what the Bucks are accused of doing: On the first page of the document, the policy says that teams \"must refrain from any long-term shutdown (or near shutdown) whereby a star player ceases participating in games or begins to play a materially reduced role in circumstances affecting the integrity of the game.\" Further down, the policy reiterates that the league has discretion to \"impose discipline\" whenever a star player \"stops playing (or, in the judgment of the league office, begins to play a materially reduced role) in circumstances affecting the integrity of the game.\"\n\nAt this time of year, it is very common for lousy NBA teams to shelve star-level players for injuries that under better circumstances would not be considered season-ending. The Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards recently made a trade-deadline business out of soaking up expensive stars who could soon be mothballed for minimally plausible rehabilitation reasons, so the policy has obviously not had the intended effect. For tanking teams, the incentives still dwarf the penalties described by the policy, which are limited to monetary fines that any good owner would happily eat. None of the ideas in commissioner Adam Silver's package of anti-tanking proposals stand the remotest chance of solving the problem. So long as there is a player draft, and the player draft is viewed as a pro-parity league-balancing necessity, there will be tanking.",
  "title": "Giannis Antetokounmpo And The Bucks Are Feuding Right To The End"
}