The 2021 NBA Champion has been active off the basketball court while being linked with a trade away from the Milwaukee Bucks.
Two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo has become a part of Chelsea Women football club’s ownership group.
He confirmed his new stake acquisition on the Women’s Super League (WSL) club on February 8 in a post via X. He joins Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian as the latest investor in Chelsea Women after he acquired a 10% stake in the club in May 2025.
“I’m proud and honored to partner with my friend Alexis Ohanian, joining the ownership group of Chelsea FC Women, a historic club built on passion, excellence, and a winning culture,” said Antetokounmpo.
Chelsea Women becomes the latest football team the ‘Greek Freak’ has invested in in recent years. Antetokounmpo, alongside his three brothers Thanasis, Alex and Kostas, acquired an undisclosed stake in Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise Nashville SC in March 2023.
Prior to this in August 2021, following his NBA Championship victory with the Milwaukee Bucks, Antetokounmpo became a minority owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, acquiring an undisclosed stake in the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise.
The controversial Kalshi deal
In addition to his investment in Chelsea Women, Antetokounmpo also announced he has become an investor in the prediction markets company Kalshi.
Antetokounmpo took to X to confirm his shares in Kalshi on February 6, stating: “Everyone is online. The internet is full of opinions. I decided it was time to make some of my own. Today, I’m joining Kalshi as a shareholder.”
Kalshi CEO, Tarek Mansour, also confirmed Antetkokounmpo’s stake in the company in a LinkedIn post on February 8.
“Today, I am incredibly excited to announce that Giannis Antetokounmpo is joining team Kalshi. People love Giannis because he’s real and he earned it the hard way.
“He grew up in poverty in Athens with immigrant parents, selling items on the street to support them. He didn’t start playing until age 12, was drafted as an unknown, and developed into an MVP and NBA champion. He is now one of the best to ever play the game.”
The announcement was met with criticism from both X and LinkedIn posts.
Etan Nechin, New York’s correspondent for Haaretz, commented in an X post: “Isn’t this illegal? Athletes promoting betting? What’s the point?”
On LinkedIn, Nishant Gadde – a researcher at UT Austin – said: “The NBA really needs to take a hard look at its betting rules after this, because Giannis joining a platform where people can literally trade on NBA outcomes exposes a massive gray area between what’s technically allowed under the CBA and what actually protects the integrity of the game.”
Kalshi is a prediction markets company which allows users to buy and sell event contracts to make predictions on sports outcomes, as well as other global events such as elections.
While being regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Kalshi has been ordered to stop its sports contracts services in states such as in Massachusetts recently.
Conflict of interest?
The conflict of interest notion of Antetokounmpo investing in a prediction market company like Kalshi comes following widespread reports of the ‘Greek Freak’ being linked with a trade away from his current team, the Milwaukee Bucks.
Antetokounmpo was the subject of interest from NBA franchises such as the Golden State Warriors and the New York Knicks in recent weeks. However, he will ultimately play for the Bucks until the end of the 2025/26 season, as he was not traded before the NBA trade deadline on February 5.
In a Kalshi statement cited by ESPN, the company stated Antetokounmpo would be “forbidden” from trading on NBA related markets.
Insider Sport has reached out to Kalshi for comment.
The NBA has been embroiled in several betting scandals in recent years. Jontay Porter was handed a lifetime ban in April 2024 after being involved in up to 13 illegal bets placed on games he was in connection with or played.
The most recent scandal came in December 2025 when Terry Rozier allegedly used insider information to place bets, while Chauncey Billup had been allegedly involved in rigged poker games backed by the Mob.
Both Billups and Rozier have denied any wrongdoing.
