LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo are two of the best players in the NBA right now and whenever they go at it, everybody tries to make the case for one or the other. They played against one another this week and LeBron came out with the W after closing out the game with two impressive players.
That was a statement and the King confirmed that after the match was over. Moreover, people started to talk about who was the rightful winner of the 2020 NBA MVP award while others claimed Giannis hasn’t done what he’s expected to do to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to the promised land.
While some have tried to make the LeBron-Giannis duels a rivalry, things aren’t precisely like that. James leads their personal duel with a big 16-5 against Antetokounmpo. Former LeBron James coach David Fizdale explained that this isn’t a rivalry since Giannis hasn’t faced LeBron in the Finals, let alone beat him (1:03 mark).
“It’s not a rivalry. We’re too loosey-goosey with the term rivalry these days. When we were growing up, a rivalry was Magic and Bird… LeBron is competing against history. So when he didn’t get MVP, it was more of thinking historically what I didn’t get. It wasn’t about Giannis beating him. I’m looking at it as a legacy standpoint… Giannis hasn’t done enough to make this a rivalry. They got to beat each other at finals a couple of times before we talk about rivalry.”
Even though he’s still 26, Giannis is under a lot of pressure to take his Bucks to win a championship. He’s the current back-to-back MVP award winner and people expect a lot from him. Giannis has repeatedly stated that he wants to win but some people are rushing him to win as soon as possible or he’ll be considered a failure in the league.
