Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo nearly walked away from the NBA in 2020, he revealed to Lori Nickel of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Antetokounmpo, who was just months removed from signing the largest contract extension in the history of the NBA at the time for five years and $228 million, went so far as to tell the front office that he was thinking about retiring.
“Mental health – it’s big for me,” he told Nickel. “Everybody—no matter where I am— everybody is watching me. I don’t think I have the time to turn it off… be myself… kind of just be me. In 2020, I was ready to walk away from the game. I had that conversation—yes—with the front office. And, you know, very normally, everybody is looking at me like I was crazy. ‘You just signed the largest contract in NBA history and you want to walk away from the game and all that money?’”
