As if you needed any more reasons to love Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, just add his classy gesture for Lakers rookie Adou Thiero to the list.
Thiero scored his first NBA points during L.A.'s blowout victory over the Bucks on Saturday, so his teammate Jarred Vanderbilt attempted to secure the game ball for him after the contest ended.
But crew chief Pat Fraher had different plans, and grabbed the ball off Vanderbilt to then give to a Bucks team attendant; apparently, the ball belonged to Milwaukee.
"He said it's not my ball to give away, which was like ... I've never heard that," Lakers guard Austin Reaves said of the moment, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
"[Fraher] said he's going to write me up," Vanderbilt added. "I don't know what the hell he's talking about. These refs, they just want to have their power or something, I don't know. I don't know what he was reaching for. That's been a thing since way before I was in the league. What, was he going to take the ball home or something?"
Well, eventually Antetokounmpo realized what was going on and intervened by taking the ball from the team attendant and giving it to L.A. guard Luka Dončić, who would later give the ball to Thiero.
A classy move from Giannis, who clearly knew what the ball would mean for the rookie and ended the squabble before it escalated further.
The Lakers were trying to get the game ball for Adou Thiero but the ref wouldn't allow it.
— Italo Santana (@BulletClubIta) November 16, 2025
Giannis went on, got the ball and handed it to Luka.
Class act by the Greek Freak pic.twitter.com/1tOHYzs1BL
"At first I didn't realize it was all for me," Thiero said in the locker room. "But I'm very thankful for this team. I think that shows how connected we are and how much we want each other to succeed."
The Lakers selected Thiero out of Arkansas with the 36th pick of the 2025 draft. His big debut off the bench arrived as Los Angeles was down a number of starters, including Marcus Smart, Rui Hachimura and LeBron James.
As highlighted by ESPN's McMenamin, the moment also called to mind a more contentious post-game ball exchange between the Pacers and the Bucks roughly two years ago. At the time, Indiana was hoping to get to the game ball to give to then-rookie Oscar Tshiebwe, but it was on the same night that Giannis scored a career-high 64 points. The back-and-forth led to a heated off-court discussion between the two teams and their players.
Luckily, Saturday's exchange appeared far more pleasant.
With the win, the Lakers improved to 10–4 overall, and could make that 11–4 with a win over the Jazz on Tuesday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Giannis Antetokounmpo Had Such a Classy Gesture for L.A. Rookie After Lakers-Bucks.
