On eve of his first Heat camp, Giannis ready for new beginning: ‘I’m in a very, very good place’
Two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo usually squeezes every minute he can in his home country of Greece during the offseason. But this offseason was very different from the others he has experienced since entering the NBA in 2013.
Instead of staying in Greece until just days before the start of training camp in late September, Antetokounmpo joined his new Heat teammates in Los Angeles for a player-organized training/team bonding camp in early September before heading to Miami a few days later to prepare for his first training camp with the Heat.
“It’s still weird,” Antetokounmpo said Monday morning during his media day press conference at Kaseya Center of his Heat transition after spending the first 13 seasons of his NBA career with the Milwaukee Bucks. “A lot of new faces, new teammates, new locker, new fans, new city, new route to practice. But I’m in a good place. I’m in a very, very good place.
“I feel like these last two weeks, just being around the team and playing, playing pick-ups, doing the conditioning test together, I feel like it helped me a lot to kind of immerse myself in the culture. I feel like it’s a culture that fits my personality.”
The Heat sent Tyler Herro, Kasparas Jakucionis, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kel’el Ware and a haul of draft capital to the Bucks to land Antetokounmpo and veteran forward Bobby Portis this offseason.
“We brought him here for a reason. He’s here for a reason,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Antetokounmpo on Monday. “We want him to establish himself as in that conversation of the best player in the league. And that can be debated in a lot of different ways, but we’re not bringing him here to take a step back. So we’ll try to maximize his strengths as much as we can, get him as comfortable as possible. But then also, can we add? And not add to his game. It’s the environment. It’s the style of play. It’s the feeling in the locker room. Can that bring out another level of him?”
Despite just finishing his 13th NBA season and standing months away from turning 32 in December, Antetokounmpo is still at the top of his game when healthy. He averaged 27.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game while shooting 62.4% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range in 36 appearances last season.
Antetokounmpo is the only player in the league who averaged more than 25 points per game while also shooting better than 60% from the field last season.
But injuries have been an issue for Antetokounmpo recently, as he played a career-low 36 games last season due in large part to multiple calf strains. He then sustained a hyperextended left knee and bone bruise on March 15 that cut his season short.
When healthy, Antetokounmpo is still considered one of the NBA’s top players. Not only was he named the league’s MVP for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons, but he finished in the top four in MVP voting in seven straight seasons before injuries limited him this past season.
“I really do believe that,” Antetokounmpo said when asked Monday if he still considers himself to be the best basketball player in the world. “If not the best, I’m one of the best players in the world. I know when I’m at my best, when I’m locked in, when my body is right, I really do believe that I can dominate the game and I can impact the game in both ways, offensively and defensively.
“When you’re up there, I think it’s kind of hard for people to understand. But when you’re up there, top five, top four, top three, top one, whatever, top 10, the best player is whoever is able to impact the game and help this team go deep in the playoffs and win the championship. That’s who the best player is to me. For me to have an ESPN, Bleacher Report, whatever it’s called, ranking as No. 1, it’s cool. But I don’t think in 20, 30 years from now that I’m going to show my kids that. But if I can go to the trophy case and show them that we actually won the whole thing, you know what I’m saying. That’s what it’s about for me.”
Antetokounmpo has been named to nine All-NBA teams (seven first-team selections and two second-team selections) and five All-NBA Defensive teams (four first-team selections and one second-team selection) during his career. He was also named the NBA’s Most Improved Player for the 2016-17 season and the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year for the 2019-20 season.
But the highlight of Antetokounmpo’s career came when he led the Bucks to the NBA championship in 2021, averaging 30.2 points, 12.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.2 blocks per game during that playoff run. He was named the 2021 NBA Finals MVP.
Antetokounmpo, who has a $62.8 million player option in his contract for the 2027-28 season, is desperate to make another deep postseason run after missing the playoffs last season for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
“I don’t care about being the best, I care about being a winner,” Antetokounmpo again emphasized, with the Heat set to open training camp on Tuesday at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
Starting on Oct. 1, Antetokounmpo is eligible to sign a three-year, $193 million extension with the Heat if he declines his 2027-28 player option and a two-year, $135 million extension if he exercises his 2027-28 player option.
Then starting on Jan. 6, Antetokounmpo is eligible to sign a four-year, $275 million extension with the Heat if he declines his 2027-28 player option and a three-year, $214 million if he exercises his 2027-28 player option.
While Antetokounmpo is expected to make a long-term commitment to the Heat at some point, he didn’t want to answer any extension questions on Monday.
“I want to focus on the season,” Antetokounmpo said. “I don’t even want to go there.”
But Antetokounmpo didn’t shy away from questions on another sensitive topic — iguanas. His recent Instagram video of an iguana by his pool went viral, as a terrified Antetokounmpo watched the iguana from inside his new Pinecrest home.
“If the Iguanas keep on coming, I’ll probably move. Maybe get like an apartment,” Antetokounmpo said with a laugh. “So I won’t have a pool, no grass, none of that stuff. And somebody told me when I came here in July, somebody told me they were kind of cute. They’re not cute. They’re not cute. They’re scary. I don’t like it. But I’ll get used to it. Hopefully, we’ll see.”
Antetokounmpo has a lot to get used to in the coming days, weeks and months. This is the first time Antetokounmpo has changed NBA teams since the Bucks drafted him with the 15th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft as an 18-year-old out of Greece.
“This is all new for me,” Antetokounmpo said. “I’m trying to learn defense, I’m trying to learn offense, I’m trying to be in the locker room with new faces. I’m trying to be able to play with players that I’ve never played with before. It’s all new for me.
“The goal is to win a championship. That’s the goal. So many players have played here and been successful, and I want to be part of that. I know what I have in front of me, which is today and this year. I don’t know the future. But I’m going to focus on right now. How can I be the best that I can be right now? And hopefully I can leave my mark within this organization. ... I just want to leave my mark. I want to be able to look back two, three, five, 10 years from now and be like, OK, I made that decision a good decision.”
This story was originally published September 28, 2026 at 1:08 PM with the headline "On eve of his first Heat camp, Giannis ready for new beginning: ‘I’m in a very, very good place’."
