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‘I put hot sauce on my knees’ – Inside Giannis Antetokounmpo’s one-of-a-kind pregame routine

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What does it take to be one of the best players in the NBA?

Apparently it’s putting hot sauce on your knees right before tipoff.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has been a top three player in the league for the better part of the last six years, in large part to his commitment and discipline to his craft

At least that’s what works for Milwaukee Bucks‘ superstar, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

And by hot sauce, he means Icy Hot.

“I put hot sauce on my knees,” Antetokounmpo told ESPN, but then clarifies.

“It is not hot sauce. It is Icy Hot.”

Just a slight difference.

Antetokounmpo goes to the training room exactly 22 minutes before tipoff of every game to put Icy Hot on his knees.

That is usually the last step of his pregame routine. A routine that he follows religiously. A routine that starts six hours before tip.

After morning shootaround, on the day of a game, the two-time MVP and NBA champion will go back to his house and nap for almost three hours.

“If I don’t take a nap, I can’t play,” Antetokounmpo said.

After his nap, he will head back to the arena, and partake in a variety of stretches and soft tissue work, then will hit the court for his carefully detailed shooting routine and script.

It’s no accident why Antetokounmpo has had the success he’s had

After all of his warm ups are finished and he head backs to the locker room, Antetokounmpo will go get his Icy Hot.

Or as he likes to call it, his hot sauce.

Everyone on the Bucks knows Antetokounmpo’s pregame routine, especially Kris Middleton.

The Bucks small forward has been teammates with Antetokounmpo for 11 years, the entirety of Antetokounmpo’s career.

He knows his routine like the back of his own hand.

“His routine is over the top,” Middleton said.

“I know where he is going to be every second before the game. When you see him not doing that, you realize something is wrong.”

Luckily for Middleton and the Bucks there hasn’t been much to worry about when it comes to Antetokounmpo’s play on the court.

He is once again having an MVP level year, which comes as no surprise considering his body of work.

Milwaukee is currently 11-9 after a slow start to the season, good for fifth in the Eastern Conference.

Antetokounmpo is in pursuit of his second NBA championship and looks primed to do so.

All it is going to take, is some hot sauce and a couple of naps.

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