Stephen A. Smith raised eyebrows on Friday’s episode of First Take with his comments regarding Giannis Antetokounmpo. When asked for a word he’d use to describe Antetokounmpo’s career if he doesn’t win another NBA championship, Smith went with “underachiever.” That didn’t go down too well, and the Milwaukee Bucks superstar wholeheartedly agreed with one fan who called out the ESPN analyst.
“100 100,” Antetokounmpo wrote.
Antetokounmpo’s story is indeed one of the most inspirational ones in the NBA. His family had emigrated to Greece from Nigeria and struggled to make ends meet during his childhood.
As the fan stated, Antetokounmpo used to sell sunglasses on beaches in Greece to help his family financially. To drag his loved ones out of poverty to where they are today is a great achievement.
Getting back to Smith, here is what he had to say about Antetokounmpo on First Take.
“He’s one of the greatest players to ever play the game,” Smith said. “Over the last four years, minimum 200 games, Giannis [is] second in the league, 30.4 points per game, fifth in the league, 11.7 rebounds per game. Fifth among qualifiers at 58.0% from the field.
“Nine All-NBA selections in his career, nine All-Star selections, and top-10 finishes in league MVP voting nine times,” Smith stated. “And he has more of that than postseason series wins. That’s unacceptable. It’s not his fault. I’m not in any way pointing to him for what he’s not doing.
“I’m saying you don’t look at somebody that dominant, that fantastic, with that kind of fire in his belly to compete on a night-in, night-out basis, and all you have is one championship to show for it, “Smith continued. “He’s got one playoff series win in the last four years. Ain’t his fault, he was hurt a couple of times.
“Got upset by Miami, Jimmy Butler and the crew gave it to him, no doubt,” Smith added. “But this year, Damian Lillard goes down, you lose to Indiana. We understand all of that. But to know Giannis, his career, his accomplishments, his cache, and to say one championship, nah, nah, you definitely expect more than that.”
Smith brought up the biggest reason why Antetokounmpo, a two-time MVP, hasn’t had a lot of success since winning his first and only NBA championship in 2021. It’s just been one untimely injury after another in the playoffs.
Khris Middleton went down in 2022, and then Antetokounmpo himself got injured in 2023 and 2024. When the nine-time All-Star was finally healthy in 2025, Damian Lillard tore his Achilles. There are so many factors beyond your control that determine if you win or not, so to claim he’s an underachiever if he wins just one title is a bit much.
Would it be a bit disappointing? Sure, but Smith went a step too far there. Also, many all-time greats either won just one championship or never got across the finish line at all. Were they all underachievers? Certainly not. No matter how great you are, things that are beyond your control have to fall into place to win the ultimate prize.
Now, if Antetokounmpo had been slacking by not taking care of his body and whatnot, then you can understand someone calling him an underachiever. The 30-year-old certainly cannot be accused of that, and so, when a man keeps doing everything within his powers to achieve something, you can’t place that tag on him.
