It is about helping one another during these times: Bucks star Antetokounmpo

With no games being played, arena and gameday employees, who worked on an hourly basis found themselves without work.However, several NBA players raised their hands to do their bit to help those in need. Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love was the first to donate $100,000 to workers at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Detroit Pistons big man Blake Griffin too, took Love’s lead and followed suit, pledging $100,000 to the workers at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and his teammates from Milwaukee Bucks did the same for the employees at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee and pledged $100,000.

“I tried to follow Kevin Love’s lead. I know that we work with these people every day. My first reaction when the league was suspended was, ‘Are these people going to be able to work? Are these people going to be able to leave their homes? Are these people going to be able to provide for themselves and their families? Because most of these people probably live from check-to-check, so me and my family decided to help as much as we could. For me personally, I don’t care about what people think and what people say about me or my family, because at the end of the day it’s about helping one another,” said Antetokounmpo.

Following Antetokounmpo’s lead, Khris Middleton, Brook Lopez, Eric Bledsoe and many others contributed to helping the staff of the Fiserv Forum. 

“We took each other’s lead on it and we tried to do the right thing. As far as hearing what people had to say about the donation, I don’t think many of us even paid attention to that or really sought out what people thought about it, because at the end of the day we know we try to do what’s best from our point of view to take care of our families and what not. It really doesn’t matter how people portray it, or see it, or what they say about it,” said Middleton.

Bucks point-guard Eric Bledsoe has had his fair share of struggles growing up and empathizes with stadium staffs that are going through similar struggles to make ends meet during the Coronavirus pandemic. “I try to always help people because my mom has been in situations like that, and for Khris and Giannis to lead the charge, I thought that was special. From the team point of view and everybody on the team helping out, just to help someone else, it’s always a good feeling to help someone else in certain situations,” said Bledsoe.

Center Brook Lopez said he was proud of his teammates. “It was amazing for Khris and Giannis to lead the charge. We are just doing the right thing and doing the little that we can to help these people. It’s just our way of giving back and showing how appreciative we are for every day they’ve been there for us this season, those home games and events this season, whatever it is. When they’re there for us during the season, we’re trying to be there for them now,” added Lopez.