Giannis Antetokounmpo is, apparently, in possession of a basketball from his career-best 64-point night against the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night. Whether that’s the ball he used during the game, however, is a different story. Cameras caught the two-time league MVP running towards the Pacers’ locker room after the Bucks’ 140-126 win, with his gripe reportedly being that the Pacers took the game ball he used because rookie big man Oscar Tshiebwe scored his first point in an NBA game.
Rick Carlisle called the situation “unfortunate,” and Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report brought word that Bucks security was able to get the ball for Antetokounmpo. But in a pretty strange turn of events, Antetokounmpo told the press after the game that he’s not convinced that the ball he has is the one that he used during the game.
Giannis says he has a ball but doesn’t know if it’s the game ball. Said it doesn’t feel like the game ball. Talks about the whole situation pic.twitter.com/ZE4q10pPuT
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) December 14, 2023
“I have no idea, I’m not gonna lie,” Antetokounmpo said when asked if he could confirm that he had the official game ball. “I have no idea. I don’t know, I really don’t know. I have a ball, but I don’t know if it’s the game ball. It doesn’t feel like the game ball to me. It feels like a brand new ball. I can tell from — I played, what, 35 minutes today? I know how the game ball felt. The ball that I have, which I will take and I will give it to my mom for sure, but I don’t know if it’s actually the game ball.”
Carlisle claimed that the Pacers did, indeed, have a reserve ball, and a video appeared to show a Bucks security guard grabbing the ball in the immediate aftermath of the game. (It’s worth mentioning that it’s unclear if that exact ball is the one that ended up in Giannis’ possession.)
Rick Carlisle said the Pacers found out they didn’t actually have the game ball anyway. They took the reserve ball and a security guard had the real game ball.
— Dustin Dopirak (@DustinDopirak) December 14, 2023
I went back to look and this is clearly a Bucks assistant so I don’t know how the Pacers ended up with the ball https://t.co/34UFI1v9gC pic.twitter.com/kUMuBvFtuq
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) December 14, 2023
This is Danny Carter, a Bucks security guard.
My understanding is that Carter grabbed the ball right after the game as shown in the video above, but as the game ended, the Bucks saw the Pacers leaving with a ball and that was actually the reserve game ball. https://t.co/jOCtaLWO12
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) December 14, 2023