Giannis Antetokounmpo has a theory.

After playing in a nationally televised game on Christmas Day for the past six seasons, the Milwaukee Bucks will not be playing this Christmas. Given a chance to contemplate why the Bucks were not one of the 10 teams invited to the NBA’s biggest regular-season party this year, the Bucks’ eight-time All-NBA forward believes he has it figured out.

“I’m a little bit upset or kind of questioning it,” Antetokounmpo told The Athletic. “But I really believe there’s probably an algorithm that takes place within the NBA that shows who is the most attractive team or which team gets the most attention for them to be able to play in the Christmas game.”

Unable to find any logical reasons for the decision, Antetokounmpo was forced to speculate about what he can’t see.

“There’s gotta be an algorithm because if it’s — how can I say — like a popularity contest, I can give you facts,” Antetokounmpo said. “You want me to? Two of the NBA All-Star starters, Dame (Lillard) and Giannis, and the All-Star MVP, right? And the No. 1 vote-getter — not in the East, in the whole NBA — is not in the Christmas game? What? No, it’s a fact.

“The votes came out last year. I was the No. 1. Dame was a starter. I was a starter. Dame won the MVP. Dame won the 3-point contest. Maybe that has nothing to do with it. I believe we were one of the best teams in the East last year. Maybe not this year, OK. We don’t get a Christmas game. Why? Because we got a small market? Maybe that’s the case. Or I want to believe what I tell you, I think there’s an algorithm within the NBA that they choose which team will get the most attention, the most viewership that day.”

Antetokounmpo’s struggle to understand why the Bucks are not playing on Christmas is understandable when looking through what he has done recently as well as the Bucks’ team success.

Outside of the popularity Antetokounmpo cited in last year’s All-Star voting, he is one of three players to win NBA MVP over the last three seasons. The other two — Nikola Jokić and Joel Embiid — are scheduled to play on Christmas. On top of that, the eight-time All-Star is also the only player in the NBA to finish in the top five in MVP voting in each of the last six seasons.

From a team perspective, the Bucks were the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference last season. The Bucks are one of two top-three seeds from last season, along with their NBA Cup final opponent, the Oklahoma City Thunder, to not be featured on Christmas this season. The Bucks have amassed more regular-season wins across the last six seasons than any other team and they are the only NBA champion from the last five seasons to not be featured on Christmas this time around.

And while Antetokounmpo has the Bucks’ most prominent voice, he was far from the only player struggling to understand the decision.

“A lot of teams play on Christmas, so it’s not like it’s two or four teams and we gotta figure out who we’re going to pick in these spots,” center Brook Lopez said. “No, they have a lot of games on Christmas. So, yeah, I do think it’s disrespectful, but I don’t make the schedule. I don’t know how that happened.”

Khris Middleton, who has played on the last six Christmases like Antetokounmpo, Lopez and Pat Connaughton, also found himself frustrated by this year’s schedule.

“Definitely disappointing,” Middleton said. “We always want to play on Christmas. It’s the biggest day in the NBA besides the playoffs and the finals and whatnot. But I have a family now and kids, so now I can have a chance to open gifts without having to work the same day, so I’m definitely happy about that. But hopefully we won’t have too many more Christmases where we don’t play again.”

While players throughout the Bucks roster found themselves initially struggling to comprehend the snub, that disappointment has subsided as the season has progressed.

Bobby Portis told The Athletic he was immediately texting with Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo when he initially found out over the summer but now finds himself looking at the silver lining of having off on Christmas.

“It was disappointing when I first heard the news,” Portis said. “But as time has grown, especially how we started the season, we get two days off in an important time in our year coming from Vegas (for the NBA Cup) last week. So, to get Tuesday and Wednesday off, I think that’s going to be great for our legs, great for our minds.

“And then just to get away from the gym for a little minute and spend time with our fams, I think at first I was a little mad, but now it’s like Christmas is on the way, we got snow outside, so it’s fun.”

In the end, that is where Antetokounmpo also landed. There was disappointment at first, but that has turned into gratefulness over an unexpected chance to spend time with his family on a special day.

“I’m pissed,” Antetokounmpo said. “But I’m happy at the same time because I get to for the first time since 2017 — yeah, 2017 was the last time I actually spent Christmas like a regular person, I didn’t play a noon game. I get to, for once, sit on my couch and be entertained and watch NBA basketball, be entertained by other players and not the one doing the entertaining.

“So, yeah, I was pissed, but then 20 minutes later, I was like, ‘No Christmas game, huh? I get to spend the day with my kids and open presents.’ Like, you don’t take it for granted because like, LeBron (James) plays, Steph (Curry) plays, all of these big-time players play in Christmas games all the time in their career and they miss valuable moments. Like, we miss so much valuable moments from our lives and I’m a person that I try to not take things for granted. And if this is how it should be, this is how it should be.”

(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

Aaron Rodgers doesn’t seem to have too many people in his corner as the New York Jets’ 2024 season, and his first full year under center, nears its end.

Former New York Jets star linebacker Bart Scott took issue with Rodgers’ performance following the team’s 19-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Rodgers had 256 passing yards and one touchdown pass.

The issue stemmed from Rodgers trying to get touchdown pass No. 500. He is one touchdown pass away from hitting the achievement and joining Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Tom Brady as the only players with at least 500 touchdown passes.

Rodgers said he wished Davante Adams would have caught the third-quarter pass that may have been a touchdown. It ended a 13-play drive that lasted nearly 10 minutes.

Scott wasn’t happy with the whole situation.

“To have a 10-minute drive and end up with nothing,” Scott said on the SNY postgame show. “And it’s because you’re going for records, right? Sentimental records. And you’re deciding who gets your record. And I think that’s – that’s despicable.”

New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott during warmups before the Eagles game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Aug. 30, 2012. (Howard Smith-USA Today Sports)

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Former Jets offensive lineman Willie Colon agreed with Scott’s assessment.

It was 9-9 when the Jets turned it over on downs. Their next drives ended in a fumble, turnover on downs and a missed field goal.

Rodgers put his teammates on notice after the game.

“I think we’re kinda past the ‘keeping it positive’ thing,” Rodgers said, via SNY. “I think it’s just about perspective. Perspective informs your truth and your truth makes your reality. 

“So, the reality of the situation is what it is, but your perspective is what you can change every single day. So, what you’re focusing on is the most important thing now. It’s not to change the reality of the situation – being 4-11, out of the playoffs, going into an unknown offseason.”

Rodgers then spoke about what the next two weeks will mean for the future of the organization.

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) reacts after a missed throw against the Jaguars at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, Dec. 15, 2024. (Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images)

“You gotta figure out what it means to be a professional,” he said. “That’s an important part of building culture. The last two weeks we can really see who’s on board moving forward and who is ready to get out. It’s just part of the game. I’ve been on a couple of teams who were out of it, and it’s interesting to watch the practice habits, the preparation habits. 

“Hopefully, we’ll do the right thing, and it means a lot because everybody’s watching, and it’s a who-you-know business. There will be interesting conversations in the next couple of weeks, but just focus on the relationships we have with each other and try to finish this thing out like a pro.”

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Adversity was on the schedule every week for the South Los Angeles Legends, a soccer team of 11- and 12-year-old girls, many of whom were growing up in underserved communities.

“We were trying to navigate a pay-to-play system that had basically outpriced our community,” said LaShon Wooldridge, the team manager and single mother of its goalkeeper.

That was not the only thing that made the Legends, well, legendary. In what is largely a white suburban sport, especially at the youth level, the Legends’ roster was made up entirely of Black youths from South L.A., girls who had to fight for access and equality before they got close to a playing field.

Yet they didn’t lose a game, going unbeaten in 96 matches en route to an AYSO national championship.

That was five years ago and those pint-sized trailblazers have become high school seniors. For most of them the skills, self-assurance and success they developed in that magical summer on the field have followed them into the classroom, where they have continued to excel and defy expectations.

“It definitely gave me confidence,” said Ameerah Kolleff, 17, an honor student who also plays soccer at the academically challenging Girls Academic Leadership Academy, the only public all-girls STEM school in California. “It showed me that if we fight hard enough, we can get what we want.”

Soccer is also opening doors and opportunities for Sidney Wooldridge, Kolleff’s 17-year-old club teammate at SoCal United who is also an honor student at GALA, where she has won two L.A. City championships.

“I think it started my journey and gave me the idea that I want to continue in soccer in college,” she said. “Having that support system around me, the same people who were there in 2019, having the same people now gave me the reassurance that I can do it.”

To take that success to the next level, both girls have expanded their support systems to include ACCESS U, a nonprofit foundation that provides students from underserviced communities who stand out in soccer and academics with the resources and guidance they need to negotiate the college recruitment process. The foundation was established in 2016 by Joaquin Escoto, now executive vice president of MLS expansion club San Diego FC, and Brad Rothenberg, son of Alan Rothenberg, a former U.S. Soccer president and the man behind the 1994 World Cup, the only one held in the U.S.

The program is not designed to turn young players into pros. Rothenberg said few of the kids currently in the program have the skill or desire to make a living playing soccer. But many, such as Kolleff and Wooldridge, are good enough to get a college scholarship and that alone can be life-changing.

“I’m perfectly happy to help them get to college. So I really think of it as an education program that filters through socio-economic challenges and finds kids,” he said. “By just helping them connect the dots to college coaches and scholarships … these kids are going to elite schools that they didn’t know was in their grasp.”

And they’ll graduate from those schools with little to no debt.

Before launching ACCESS U, Rothenberg was co-founder of Alianza de Futbol, a nationwide program focused on creating soccer opportunities for Hispanic youth, who often found their entry into the game blocked by the same pay-for-play system that frustrated the South Los Angeles Legends.

“Passionately devoted to equity in soccer,” reads the bio on Rothenberg’s LinkedIn page.

ACCESS U provides its student-athletes with as many as 80 hours of one-on-one tutoring, a 10-week test-prep course and college counseling services for free. Some players are also sent to so-called “ID camps,” which can be a crucial part of the recruiting process because they offer a competitive environment for players to experience what college is like while also giving them entry to coaches and schools.

To be admitted to ACCESS U, players must have at least a 3.2 grade-point average and be good enough to compete at the college level, but not necessarily beyond that.

Rothenberg tells the story of Noel Ortega to illustrate the influence his program can have. An excellent student and the City Section player of the year at Birmingham High, Ortega was headed to Cal State Northridge before ACCESS U intervened and helped get him a scholarship to Cornell. He started 11 games in three seasons, scoring just once, but he won an academic All-Ivy League award before graduating into a job as an analyst with Goldman Sachs.

“We have two kids at Harvard, one on his way to Penn,” Rothenberg said. “For these kids that does matter. It’s a resume-maker for them.”

There are a record 66 soccer players — 62 of them girls — currently in the program, said Rothenberg, who would like to see that number grow to four times that many by 2026. To do that, he says the $500,000 budget he had this year will have to triple.

“I went to an Ivy League school,” said Rothenberg, who graduated from Brown “and a lot of my friends have done very well for themselves. They know I’m coming after then. They’re hiding but I’m coming to get them.”

Kolleff hopes her resume eventually includes a degree from Howard University, a historically Black college that recently replaced Stanford as her top choice.

“I wanted to be on a team that looked like me,” she said.

Wooldridge’s mother said her daughter is considering Chicago University, Greenville University and Texas Southern, among other schools.

“I’m a student before I’m an athlete. So in order to succeed on the field I now have to succeed in school as well,” said Sidney Wooldridge, whose club soccer obligations not only include excellent grades but community service hours as well.

“They set the bar high for the younger of girls generation following them,” LaShon Wooldridge said.

ACCESS U graduates will have little influence on the world of elite soccer that Rothenberg’s father has long moved in. Yet it can make a life-changing impact on the families of people such as Ortega, Kolleff and Wooldridge. And the value of that hasn’t escaped the elder Rothenberg, who has the most successful World Cup in history on his resume.

But his son, he said, might be doing more important work.

“He’s provided smart, talented kids the opportunity to receive a college education without debt,” he said. “I’ve always felt organized soccer has left so many behind because of economics, the pay-to-play system. ACCESS U is filling that gap.

“Needless to say, as Brad’s father I have immense pride in what he’s dedicated his life to.”