Giannis Antetokounmpo unfollows teammates, meets with Bucks
NBA All-Star and 2019 league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo met with Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry on Saturday to discuss his future with the team, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Antetokounmpo unfollowed Milwaukee's official team accounts and his teammates' personal pages on Twitter and Instagram earlier in the day, perhaps miffed after the Bucks were knocked out of the NBA Playoffs inside the Orlando bubble by the Miami Heat prior to the weekend.
Antetokounmpo, who's a free agent after the 2021 season, has said on the record he intends to stick with the small-market Bucks and said he was not interested in demanding a trade. Milwaukee will be able to offer its best player a multi-year supermax deal this offseason worth somewhere near $221 million.
“Some see a wall and go in [another direction]," Antetokounmpo told Yahoo Sports after Tuesday's loss to the Heat. "I plow through it. We just have to get better as a team, individually and get right back at it next season.”
Antetokounmpo was noticeably frustrated after the top-seeded Bucks were eliminated in five games.
"At the end of the day, we've got to learn from everything that goes on in your life and in your career and hopefully we can learn from this and get better as a team and come back and hopefully we can build a culture in Milwaukee for many years that we can come out here and compete every single year for a championship," Antetokounmpo said.
Multiple reports have linked Golden State as a possible landing spot for Antetokounmpo, including a Western Conference executive who told Bleacher Report one of the NBA's best players could be on the move toward the West in a matter of months.
"The basic assumption, if he decides to leave, is that Antetokounmpo will want to play in one of the NBA’s major markets on a contending team," writes BR's Eric Pincus. "That’s why Golden State, with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, is an obvious fit (at least on paper)."
UFC superstar Conor McGregor arrested in Corsica
Conor McGregor’s most recent retirement took a bad turn on Saturday. The UFC superstar and former two-weight champion was reportedly arrested in Corsica, according to TMZ.
According to the report, McGregor was arrested and detained for “attempted sexual assault.” McGregor returned to the news cycle on Friday by tweeting out that USADA had drug tested him even though he is “retired” from the UFC.
According to TMZ, a rep for McGregor “vigorously denies any accusations of misconduct" and McGregor was "interviewed and released."
McGregor's manager Audie Attar released a statement denying the accusations citing McGregor will not be a target of those seeking a headline or payday, per ESPN's Ariel Helwani.
“AFP reported a complaint was filed Thursday against Conor McGregor in France for alleged attempted sexual assault & sexual exhibitionism,” Helwani tweeted. “The AFP, citing prosecutors, stated McGregor was arrested and released following a hearing. The following is from McGregor’s mgr Audie Attar:
“‘I am irate and putting out a warning loud and clear: Conor McGregor is not and will not be a target for those seeking to score a headline or a payday.’”
“The UFC superstar had been sailing around the Mediterranean on his yacht recently with his fiancée, Dee Devlin ... but McGregor allegedly flew off the handle on Thursday,” TMZ wrote. “A court official in Corsica sent a statement to the Agence France-Presse confirming police had taken Conor into custody.
‘Following a complaint filed on September 10 denouncing acts that could be described as attempted sexual assault and sexual exhibition, Mr. Conor Anthony Mac Gregor was the subject of a hearing by the gendarmerie services,’ prosecutors said.”
During 2020, after his comeback fight in January, McGregor was called out by numerous fighters, such as UFC legend Anderson Silva, former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos and boxing legend Floyd Mayweather (for a potential rematch). He also got engaged to Devlin, his longtime girlfriend.
McGregor is 22-4 in his career and is a former two weight champion. Rumors regarding his next fight centered around a trilogy bout with Nate Diaz, a potential rematch with lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, a superfight with welterweight contender Jorge Masvidal or a scrap with current interim lightweight Justin Gaethje. However, the Diaz trilogy hasn’t materialized, Nurmagomedov is scheduled to fight Gaethje to unify the lightweight title in October and Masvidal lost a welterweight title fight against Kamaru Usman in July.
Speaking with the media back in June, UFC president Dana White explained that McGregor actually wanted to fight but the available opponents were not ideal and he maintained his stance that McGregor should wait for the winner of Nurmagomedov and Gaethje in a lightweight title fight.
“He’s been wanting to fight,” White said back in June. “He’s frustrated because he wants to fight. I’m sure that’s a piece of it. It’s not that we can’t have him fight, but who do you want to fight right now? Do you want to fight (Tony) Ferguson? He called out (Jorge) Masvidal. Masvidal, ok, you know, who do you fight right now? And where do we fight Conor McGregor right now? Fight Island isn’t even up and running until July. So if you look at all the problems to run a business like this, multiply it by a f–king million and that’s where we are right now.”
Former champion Rashad Evans said he didn’t buy McGregor’s retirement, particularly after returning in January and knocking out Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in 40 seconds. Evans said McGregor tends to get in trouble when he’s not in the cage.
“Well I think he's going to come back,” Evans said. “Conor Mcgegor is very successful outside the octagon but the thing that makes him, him is that...attitude that he has that he can only scratch when he fights. If he doesn't scratch it when he fights, he finds himself in all kinds of trouble. Until he confronts that area of his life where he finds a piece of himself where he doesn't need to fight anymore, then he's going to always need to fight to maintain that sanity. I think he's coming back.”
WATCH: Fire breaks out at Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
A fire broke out on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the home of the Florida Gators football team, in Gainesville, Florida. A video of the venue from Stadium Road on Saturday showed smoke coming out of the venue adjacent to one of the endzone scoreboards.
The university issued a statement shortly before 4 p.m. ET on Saturday that the fire had been contained and was the result of a maintenance tractor within the venue. No structural damage occurred to the stadium from the fire, per the statement. Initial reports had indicated that the fire began in a dumpster on the third level of the stadium before the university provided details on the cause.
The incident comes just weeks ahead of the SEC's Sept. 26 kickoff date for the 2020 season. Florida's home-opener is scheduled for Oct. 3 against South Carolina. Video of smoke coming out of the stadium can be seen below.
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, which opened in 1930 and is better known in college football circles as "The Swamp," seats more than 88,000 at full capacity. It has long been considered one of the most intimidating environments in college football for visiting teams and is the largest sports stadium in the state, by capacity.
At one point in 2020, the venue had been tabbed as a possible location for NFL games this fall amid uncertainty prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his state was willing to host NFL teams looking for a place to play this fall and even offered up one of the most storied venues in college football.
“I’ve already spoken with some of our colleges like the University of Florida, they got a great football stadium, The Swamp, that’s not used on Sundays,” DeSantis said. “So, if an NFL team needs a place to land, we could work that out, too.”
In a press conference, DeSantis stated that all professional sports teams, not just the NFL, are welcome in the state of Florida.
“All these professional sports are gonna be welcome in Florida,” DeSantis said. “That may not be the case in every other state in this country as we’ve seen. And so what I would tell commissioners of leagues is if you have a team in an area where they just won’t let them operate, we’ll find a place for you here in the state of Florida. Because we think it’s important and we know that it can be done safely.”
1COMMENTSThe Gators will be in their third season under head coach Dan Mullen when they kick off their 2020 campaign on the road against Ole Miss on Sept. 26. Florida checked in at No. 8 in the preseason AP rankings that came out in August.
This breaking story will be updated.
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