Late in Friday’s battle between two teams that have already clinched playoff spots in the Eastern Conference — the Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons — Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo blocked a 3-point attempt from Pistons guard Malik Beasley and then rubbed salt in the wound by imitating Beasley’s signature shimmy celebration after the rejection.
Antetokounmpo tried to help Beasley up after the play, but Beasley wasn’t having any of it, and the players were later assessed technical fouls as their exchange continued.
Giannis blocked Malik Beasley and did the shimmy over him 😭
Malik was NOT having it pic.twitter.com/QjUY3t9OeN
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 12, 2025
Beasley went on X on Saturday morning and explained in a post why he reacted the way he did to Antetokounmpo.
Let someone stand over you, hit your ish , then try to help me up .. in what world would you let that slide in? Idc how goofy he is lol
— Malik Beasley (@mbeasy5) April 12, 2025
An interesting wrinkle to the testy interaction between Beasley and Antetokounmpo is that they were teammates in the NBA just a short time ago. Beasley appeared in 79 games with Milwaukee in the 2023-24 campaign and was quite a productive complementary piece next to Antetokounmpo and guard Damian Lillard.
But Beasley has taken his game to new heights with the Pistons compared to his Bucks tenure.
He’s averaged 16.2 points per game this season and remained one of the top 3-point shooters in the league. Across 81 games played, he’s averaged 3.9 made 3s per game on a 41.3 percent clip from deep. Even with 18 starts mixed into his 81 games, he has made the second-most 3-pointers off the bench of any player in the league behind only Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard.
His sweet shooting has been one key to the Pistons’ historic turnaround from this season compared to last. Detroit ended the 2023-24 campaign with the worst record in the league at 14-68, yet the Pistons have more than three times as many victories this season at 44.
Beasley’s Pistons and Antetokounmpo’s Bucks will face off once again on Sunday, but fans shouldn’t get their hopes up that both players will be suiting up for that contest. Neither Detroit nor Milwaukee have anything to play for in terms of seeding, as the Bucks are locked in as the No. 5 seed in the East, and the Pistons are locked in as the No. 6 seed.
Antetokounmpo is also listed as doubtful to play in the contest.
The Pistons are set to make their first playoff appearance this season since they were ironically swept by the Bucks in the first round of the 2019 NBA Playoffs.
