Giannis Antetokounmpo has categorically denied making some controversial comments during a Harvard Business School case study interview.

The Milwaukee Bucks star was attributed with saying that if his team underperforms, it would make his decision to re-sign with the team a lot more difficult. Antetokounmpo addressed this on Thursday:

“If you kind of read the last quote, I’ve never used those words in my life,” said Antetokounmpo on Thursday, according to Matt Velasquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Antetokounmpo took part in the study during the spring of 2019, where he was quoted with the following:

“I want the Bucks to build a winning culture,” Harvard Professor Anita Elberse and her co-author, master's student Melcolm Ruffin, quoted Antetokounmpo as saying. “So far, we have been doing great, and, if this lasts, there's no other place I want to be. But if we're underperforming in the NBA next year, deciding whether to sign becomes a lot more difficult.”

Bucks co-owner Jamie Dinan didn't think Antetokounmpo was misquoted, but said researchers needed conflict in order for the study to be successful as a teaching case:

“I wasn’t in the room when (Antetokounmpo) said it, so I don’t know if they goaded him a little bit to kind of get some conflict,” said Dinan.

The manner of speech certainly doesn't sound like Antetokounmpo. Giannis has always been a player who has basked in being part of a small-market team and a community that supports him, expressing nothing but confidence in his franchise during the past few years. He may just be doing some damage control here, but there's always a chance his word were twisted or he didn't actually mean what he said.