Khris Middleton says Giannis Antetokounmpo's comments 'business as usual' - ESPN

Milwaukee Bucks star Khris Middleton has heard the comments Giannis Antetokounmpo has made over the past several weeks. But unlike the rest of the NBA universe, which has been caught off-guard by Antetokounmpo's open acknowledgement of uncertainty about his future, Middleton said it was simply an extension of the things Antetokounmpo has consistently been saying for years.

«I think it's kind of business as usual either way,» Middleton told ESPN in a phone interview. «It doesn't affect me personally. I don't think it affects us as a team. I think this is something he said almost every year he's come up in contract extension talks.

»We always want him back for sure. Let's be for sure and let everyone know that. We want this guy to come back because he's one of the best players in the world. He's one of the best players in franchise history. So when he says things like that, I think he just wants to challenge the team, the organization, to keep putting us in position to win championships.

«But I think it's just something that he just wants to keep putting pressure on everybody. And that's himself also. He's not just pointing a finger at everybody else saying, 'You guys have to do this for me. I think he's putting that pressure on himself to be better, to come in and be great every year. So there's no pressure on, there's no added pressure when he says that to us as a team, or me as a person, that I have to be better.»

Antetokounmpo's comments have been the capper of an atypically hectic summer for Middleton and the Bucks, who have been among the league's championship contenders for the past five seasons. But, after a stunning loss as the top seed to the eighth-seeded Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs, the Bucks