Giannis Antetokounmpo trained with Hakeem Olajuwon this offseason, so when his first points of the preseason came in the post, an account on X brought up that fact.
Giannis been in the lab with Hakeem 👀 pic.twitter.com/3ClU0S7B1s
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) October 15, 2023
Gilbert Arenas, however, wasn’t impressed at all by what he saw. Arenas called out Giannis for traveling on the play.
Travel 🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/oQ4LbGsqYU
— Gil’s Arena (@GilsArenaShow) October 16, 2023
Arenas seems rather determined to show that the workouts weren’t of any use. While many praised Giannis for his decision to work out with Olajuwon, the three-time All-Star didn’t feel that way.
Arenas blasted Olajuwon for reportedly charging $50,000 for workouts and felt they would do Antetokounmpo no good. He even claimed you could learn whatever Hakeem was going to teach on YouTube for free, and that the 28-year-old shouldn’t waste his time learning old moves from the Hall of Famer.
You can expect Arenas to keep trying to prove his point in this manner. The thing is we were never going to see immediate results from those workouts. It was always going to take some time for Giannis to even come close to mastering whatever he learned from Hakeem.
I’m certain that in the long run, those workouts would prove to be very useful. Antetokounmpo also revealed that Olajuwon actually didn’t charge him for the private workouts, so one of Arenas’ biggest issues didn’t even end up being real.
Gilbert Arenas Claimed That Giannis Antetokounmpo Doesn’t Understand Basketball
Arenas actually has a history of taking shots at Giannis. Perhaps the most infamous one of the lot came last year when Arenas boldly said Antetokounmpo doesn’t understand basketball yet.
He stated that Giannis doesn’t know how to get better and train his body. Arenas also said that Antetokounmpo only knows how to play the game one way and that isn’t how you win in the playoffs. Considering Giannis had already had success in the postseason by winning the title in 2021, it was a bit absurd to say that.
Antetokounmpo fired back at Arenas by implying that he was just bitter. He stated it served as motivation for him to work harder, but that the comments don’t exactly keep him up at night.
There Are Huge Expectations On Giannis And The Bucks In 2023-24
Getting back to the action on the court, this game against the Los Angeles Lakers was the first time that Giannis and new arrival Damian Lillard got to play together. By acquiring Lillard, expectations have gone up even higher for the Milwaukee Bucks, as they have well and truly entered the championship-or-bust territory.
Anything less than a title will be seen as a huge failure, as the Bucks now have arguably the NBA’s best duo. While they won this game 108-97, it was clear from watching it that it was going to take some time for these two to be in sync with each other.
That’s not to say there were no encouraging signs, because there were, but anytime you add such a big piece, it is going to take a while to adjust. When that happens, though, they’re going to be an absolute pain for opponents to deal with.
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham issued a warning to the NBA about the Antetokounmpo-Lillard pairing, as he wished everyone the best of luck in figuring out how to stop them. Ham is grateful his Lakers only have to play the Bucks twice.
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