NEW YORK, May 10 ― Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo declared yesterday he will be "forever grateful” to Mike Budenholzer, who was fired last week as coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Greek superstar forward made his first public comments regarding the ouster of Budenholzer after five seasons as the Bucks' coach in an Instagram posting.

"Thank you for five meaningful years Coach. We accomplished something unbelievable and I'm forever grateful,” Antetokounmpo said as a caption to a photo of himself hugging Budenholzer.

The image was from the moments after the Bucks won the 2021 NBA title, the team's first league crown in 50 years.

The Bucks finished with the NBA's best record at 58-24 and were the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, but were upset by Miami in the opening round of the post-season.

That prompted owners to fire Budenholzer, who went 271-120 with the Bucks, the best record of any NBA club over that span.

"This is an opportunity for us to refocus and reenergize our efforts as we continue building toward our next championship season,” Bucks president Peter Feigin and general manager Jon Horst said. ― AFP