Thanasis Antetokounmpo is heading back to Greece. The 34-year-old forward has signed with Aris BC of Thessaloniki, according to Marc Stein, who cited the club’s own announcement. The deal is structured as a multi-year contract, with two guaranteed years and a club option for a third season.
Thanasis is the older brother of Miami Heat forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the two spent most of the past decade as Milwaukee Bucks teammates. He played six of the last seven NBA seasons, missing the 2024-25 campaign while recovering from a torn Achilles. Last season he returned to action but in a reduced role, appearing in 34 games for Milwaukee and averaging 4.4 minutes per outing.
His exit closes a chapter that already looked different heading into this offseason. Milwaukee traded Giannis to Miami on July 6 in a deal that brought back Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis, the 13th pick and future draft compensation. For most of last season, the Antetokounmpo brothers were still teammates in Milwaukee. Now, with Giannis in Miami and Thanasis in Thessaloniki, that partnership has ended in the same offseason it started to unravel.
The move fits a familiar pattern for aging NBA role players coming off injury: a return to a home country’s top league, where playing time and a featured role are easier to find than a fringe NBA roster spot. Thanasis was never a primary scoring option in the league, but he built a reputation as a high-energy defender and locker room presence across stints with the Knicks and Bucks.
For Aris BC, the signing adds an NBA champion with real playoff pedigree to a Greek League roster, giving the club a veteran presence and name recognition beyond Greece’s borders. For NBA Trending readers who followed the Antetokounmpo brothers’ rise together in Milwaukee, it marks a quiet coda to one of the league’s more unusual family stories: two brothers who shared an NBA roster for years now playing professional basketball an ocean apart.
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