Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has expressed his regret after being dismissed from his team’s win against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night for headbutting Moe Wagner.
Reigning NBA MVP Antetokounmpo was ejected from the game in the second quarter for the apparently pre-meditated headbutt of the Wizards forward, later expressing that he harbors no ill-will towards Wagner and that the incident was little more than him “losing it for a second.“
The incident was the fourth ejection of Antetokounmpo’s career and comes just weeks after he was forcibly restrained after attempting to charge at Brooklyn Nets forward Donta Hall after being fouled while attempting to recover a rebound.
Giannis gets ejected from tonight’s game. pic.twitter.com/POg9CZnhgo
Wow really disgusting from Giannis bullying a little kid from Germany. 20 game ban @NBA otherwise you support bullying.
The @NBA Commisioner must suspend Giannis at least 10 games, that is violence, and if he don’t make an example now this will get out of control
However, the hot-headed Antetokounmpo said afterwards that he wasn’t proud of his actions and that if he had a time machine, he would go back and reverse them.
“Terrible action,” he said. “If I could go back, turn back time and go back to that play, I wouldn’t do it.
“But at the end of the day, we’re all human, we all make mistakes. I think I’ve done a great job all year, in my career at keeping my composure and focus on the game, but at the end of the day, we’re human and make mistakes. But at the end of the day, you learn from it, keep playing good basketball and keep moving forward.”
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer was also keen to give Antetokounmpo a wide berth, saying that his profile makes him a target for opposition players to wind up.
“He’s a MVP. People are gonna try him,” he said. “He normally is phenomenal, and today was a slip-up.”
“I think it’s probably, in some ways, it could be one of the best things that happened today, and it’s a learning moment. We’ll all remember how important it is that we’ve got to keep our cool.”
