Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks star, reportedly confessed that he pondered retirement in 2020.

Antetokounmpo stated that the responsibility of signing a five-year, $228 million deal extension prompted him to examine his future options.

‘That’s a lot of pressure,’ Antetokounmpo told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  ‘Going through that … in order for you to be the best, you have to play like the best.

‘You have to practice like the best. You got to carry yourself like the best. Which is not easy. In 2020, I was … ready to walk away from the game.’

At the time, the contract was the richest in NBA history, and the season before, he became the league’s third player to win both MVP and Defensive Player honours in the same season.

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Giannis Antetokounmpo recently admitted he considered retiring in 2020 due to pressure

‘Everybody is looking at me like I was crazy,’ Antetokounmpo said. 

‘You just signed the largest contract in NBA history and you want to walk away from the game and all that money …?’

‘Mannnnn, you can take that money and shove it into your … Sorry for my language.’ 

Antetokounmpo elected not to retire and led the Bucks to their first NBA Finals victory in 50 years.

He also earned Finals MVP that year, proving that he was worth every penny of the money he had been given.

This season, Antetokounmpo became the first player in NBA history to average more than 30 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists per game while shooting over 55% from the floor.

He averaged 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and shot 55.3 percent from the field, propelling the Bucks to the Eastern Conference’s top record.

Milwaukee will meet whichever team obtains the conference’s No. 8 seed during the play-in round between the Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, and Toronto Raptors. 

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The Heat lost the play-in game for the seventh seed but still have a second chance to advance