Giannis Antetokounmpo’s accomplishments at the age of 27 are downright historical. Still, in the first part of his prime, Giannis is already an NBA champion, a Finals MVP, and a 2-time MVP with a Defensive Player Of The Year thrown in for good measure. Over the last 5 seasons, Giannis has averaged more than 26 points and 10 rebounds per game, he is unbelievable on both ends of the floor.
Despite all this though, Giannis rarely gets the love that a lot of other superstars do. He’s done it the right way by developing in Milwaukee and delivering a championship to them, but for some reason, people aren’t crowning him the face of the league, with the Greek Freak’s generational greatness being normalized to an alarming degree.
It’s puzzling for sure and Jay Williams has spoken about it on ESPN, questioning why Giannis and his reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks simply don’t get the respect that they deserve.
“I think it starts to become a little bit ridiculous that people love to discredit what Milwaukee did last year. It seems like there are a lot of excuses around it. I’m getting to this point now where I’m looking at Giannis and I’m saying, ‘Are you the most disrespected superstar of this generation?'”
“He’s not as sexy as a Joel Embiid, or he’s not doing the way Kevin Durant has done it.”
In the race for the MVP award this season, for example, a lot of people are writing Giannis off since he has already won the award twice, even though he is averaging 29.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per game with just 32 minutes played per game. Giannis himself might not care about it, but it’s certainly odd.
This goes without talking about the fact that his name is also in DPOY conversations and the Bucks could end up finishing the season as the 1st seed in the Eastern Conference. It’s hard to understand what exactly is happening here but fans and the media need to show more love to the Greek Freak.
