Giannis missing the All Star game really is great for the NBA. For starters he is boring as hell to watch. Really doesn’t contribute to the glamour or spectacle of the All Star weekend, just makes it awkward usually. Do you remember the Anteto brothers in the skills contest? Yeah, exactly.
When the lights shine brightest Giannis and his clan simply never deliver. Even mic’ed up he is boring as watching paint dry:
This is fine. Not every NBA player can be spectacular. Giannis is boring in the way he plays and slightly amusing sometimes when he cracks jokes in a way that appeals to a few fans. The more important reason for Giannis to sit out games is that the Bucks simply play better without him:
That is the box score against the 76ers yesterday, a well rounded team performance. The ball moves better, defence is more agile. This isn’t just about Plus-Minus Metrics or APM. Offensive and defensive ratings are different and it really shows up what a practical problem Giannis is on the floor for any team with his lack of flexibility and emphasis on personal stat padding.
I would go as far as to claim that it is even good for Giannis. He needs to take some time to reflect on the mess he has created in the Bucks over the years with his dumb demands and direct or indirect influence over trades all these years. His emphasis on strength training which has ruined his shooting. The way he stat pads and ruins the game flow. He needs to get people around him that don’t suck up and tell him facts as they are: he has low basketball IQ and needs help on the court. It simply isn’t working. The championship was a massive lucky fluke. He needs to rethink the way he shuns working with other NBA stars. He needs to rethink his whole approach to the game and training for it.
Team chemistry and morale, the changes in playing style and strategy and of course the much increased opportunities for other players. Everyone bad mouthing the coaching staff now gets to see what they can do with players that can execute without Giannis impeding them. This Bucks team without Giannis is just that: a team.
Bucks’ fans like to think that everyone in the league would love Giannis on their team. Nothing could be further from the truth:
Giannis is an incredibly inflexible player. To put it bluntly he can basically just do one thing well.
Modern winning NBA is fast paced and extremely agile. Giannis isn’t. He can be fast but only downhill, with the ball in his hands and plenty space.
On almost every metric, Giannis is worse than his prime MVP, DPOY and championship years. This includes not just free throws and 3pt% where he is at the bottom of the league but secondary stats like steals and such.
Giannis has been spoilt by the Bucks for more than a decade, getting everything he asks for in and outside the court. Again people like to say he was “sad” when Jrue left or “like brothers” with Khris but of course he signed off on every trade.
Giannis is absolutely terrible in clutch situations. Extremely low IQ and it shows. Other coaches and other players can see it even if you can’t. More than a decade in the NBA, almost every year early exits from the playoffs.
Giannis simply cannot understand advanced plays. He started playing late in life and has no understanding of the complexities of the game.
Do some teams want him anyway? Of course they do! He is a regular season monster, especially in games that nobody cares much about with his sheer insistence and energy. But it is working less and less. Many teams can shut him down with just one defender. His moves are predictable.
But most other players don’t want to be anywhere near him. Over the years he has proved he can make everybody look bad. His lovable character bellies the fact that he is merciless in the final effect. Which is to always try to look like he is the only one on the team succeeding. Furthermore he doesn’t have social relationships with other players in the league from other teams other than his ex team mates. He doesn’t train with them in the summer, he doesn’t talk to them during the season. He has an infantile approach to the NBA (Jaylen Brown is spot on) which is a universe away from the way other players collaborate and compete.
So don’t hold your breath. Even after failing the playoffs again this year he will struggle to find a team that would want him. And even if he does move he will fail even worse than he has done in recent seasons. The worse thing is, he never understands why…
Trading Khris Middleton was the final nail in the coffin of any playoff aspirations for the Bucks.
As things stand, first round against the Pacers we all know how it ends. Even if the Pacers’ stars are injured , Siakam or Myles Turner know how to neutralise Giannis. We have seen it many times. Without Khris as an alternative threat there isn’t much hope. This isn’t a one off in season tournament game. Against the Knicks it would be even worse. In a seven game playoff series the Bucks lose badly. Again.
That is the history. That is how big a fluke the championship run was. The Bucks with Giannis have failed consistently in the playoffs. Kuzma solves no problems. In fact he will struggle to find a role on the team next to ball dominant Giannis. While Kuzma can get hot from beyond the arc, his three-point shooting remains streaky. He’s not a knockdown shooter, which can sometimes limit his offensive impact and spacing for his team. Spacing is what Giannis needs, that is why they brought Lopez. Though he has the physical tools to be a solid defender, Kuzma sometimes lacks focus and consistency on that end of the floor. He can get caught ball-watching or lose his man, leading to easy baskets for opponents.
Kuzma’s offensive assertiveness can sometimes turn into tunnel vision. He can force shots or miss open teammates when he’s focused on scoring, which can disrupt the flow of the offense. Which already doesn’t flow much because of ball hog Giannis. And Kuzma’s decision-making can be questionable. He might take a difficult shot early in the shot clock or make a risky pass that leads to a turnover. Improving his decision-making will make him a more efficient and reliable player.
There have been instances where Kuzma’s maturity has been questioned. Whether it’s on-court antics or off-court comments, he can sometimes be a distraction for his team. Maintaining focus and composure will be crucial for his continued growth, will he be able to put up with Giannis? I think moving to the Bucks will test the limits of every aspect of Kuzma on and off the court.
And failing horribly in the playoffs again will only make it worse.
It is so common to hear “no help” in relation to Giannis. But
is it true? Let’s look at how many points the bench has scored in relation to other teams.
So with only 48 games, the Bucks bench is much better than so many title contenders.
And who are these players making the difference?
In fact the Bucks’ good defensive periods are when the team does well.
Looking at the breakdown per Bucks’ player, here are they are ranked by points made of players coming off the bench:
So what is the problem? Giannis is! He is holding the ball too long in his constant stat padding efforts. It is ludicrous to have a forward on the top of the possession chart of a basketball team:
Next time someone wants to complain about Pat, maybe look at that chart again. Connaughton had the ball 1/10th of the time that Giannis did. AJ Green 1/5th of the time. How on earth do you expect players to develop at all like that?
The Milwaukee Bucks are at a crossroads. After a disappointing early exit from the playoffs, the whispers of change are growing louder, often fuelled by Giannis with direct or indirect statements. One name that occasionally surfaces in these discussions, much to the chagrin of sensible fans, is Khris Middleton. Let me be absolutely clear: trading Khris Middleton would be a colossal blunder, a self-inflicted wound that could cripple the Bucks’ championship aspirations for years to come.
Here’s why:
1. Proven Chemistry with Giannis: The most obvious and crucial reason. Middleton and Giannis Antetokounmpo have developed an unparalleled on-court synergy. Their two-man game is lethal, a constant source of headaches for opposing defenses. You don’t break up a dynamic duo like that unless you’re absolutely desperate. The Bucks’ success is inextricably linked to the Middleton-Giannis connection. Why mess with a winning formula? Dame has improved but is nowhere near that.
2. Elite Shot Creation: Middleton’s ability to create his own shot, especially in clutch situations, is invaluable. He’s a reliable scorer who can bail the Bucks out of stagnant offensive possessions. When defenses tighten up on Giannis, Middleton provides a crucial release valve. He can hit contested jumpers, drive to the basket, and draw fouls. Replacing that level of shot creation wouldn’t be easy, and it certainly wouldn’t be cheap. And remember, we are doing all this for the playoffs, so don’t tell me about some young unproven star. Very few people can operate at the top level and we know Khris is one of them.
3. Playoff Experience: Middleton has been through the playoff wars. He’s seen it all, from nail-biting victories to heartbreaking defeats. That experience is priceless, especially when the pressure mounts in the postseason. He knows what it takes to compete at the highest level, and he can provide veteran leadership to a relatively young Bucks squad. You can’t teach playoff experience; it’s earned. Even Dame isn’t close to having similar experience.
4. Consistent Scoring Threat: Middleton is a consistent scorer, not just a volume shooter; he’s efficient, shooting a respectable percentage from the field and from three-point range. His scoring punch provides balance to the Bucks’ offense, preventing them from becoming too reliant on Giannis.
5. Contract Considerations (Less Onerous Than You Think): Yes, Middleton’s contract is significant. However, narratives around it being an albatross are often overblown. While not a “bargain,” it’s a manageable contract for a player of his caliber. And let’s be honest, contending teams always have big contracts on their books. It’s the price of doing business.
6. The Difficulty of Finding a Replacement: Who are the Bucks going to trade Middleton for that will provide the same level of production, chemistry, and playoff experience? The answer is likely no one. Finding a player with his skillset and fit within the Bucks’ system would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible. Trading him would likely create more problems than it solves.
7. Intangibles: Beyond the stats and highlights, Middleton brings a level of professionalism and composure to the Bucks. He’s a team player, a good locker room presence, and a respected leader. These intangibles are often overlooked, but they play a crucial role in team success.
So trading Khris Middleton would be a shortsighted move that could seriously jeopardize the Bucks’ chances of competing for a championship. He’s a vital piece of the puzzle, a perfect complement to Giannis, and a proven winner. The Bucks should be building around Middleton and Giannis, not looking for ways to break them up. But all this is yet another Giannis mistake. That’s the only reason all this discussion keeps coming around. Front office feel they have to look like they tried everything, even though they know they can’t anyone better than Khris to help with any (very small) chances of a playoff run. The only reason anyone is even discussing this stupidity is the ridiculous narrative that Giannis is the only player worth anything on the Bucks roster, the lone hero fighting with no help.
Any talk of trading Khris should be immediately shut down. It’s not just a bad idea; it’s basketball malpractice.
A long time ago, as they often recount the tale, the Bucks brought a young athletic boy to their town. Sure he couldn’t dribble or shoot, but his body had amazing and unique characteristics. And he worked really hard. And the Bucks did everything they could to make him comfortable, brought his family over and much more.
So as he started playing he won people over with his smile. It also became apparent he needed a mentor on the court, Khris was ideal and he has done it selflessly for all these years. Giannis had no clue about how the NBA game worked. Khris took the slack for him in any situation that Giannis couldn’t understand or simply lacked the skills.
In defence that was Jrue’s job. Giannis can’t read opponents. He can’t operate fast enough. So Jrue plugged the holes. As the Bucks playing style evolved to suit Giannis they looked for young, cheap and no ego sharp shooters to spread around the floor. And when it came time for a center to help in the paint, they picked Brook precisely because of his lethal (and then quite unique for a big) 3 point ability.
And it worked! With a lot of good luck in the playoffs and thanks to Khris, Jrue and Brook they got Giannis to the Finals. That series was the Bucks’ to lose as it turned out and they quite easily won it. Giannis even had an epic 50 point game for the books. Heck he even scored free throws! And what did he do?
In the ultimate show of inexperience he said, implied and outright shouted two pretty lethal messages:
I did this the right way, no help, no superteam
We are going to run it back next year.
1. About the “right way” he was soooo wrong. As I explain here that Bucks team was a superteam. But most importantly Giannis proclaimed to the whole world that he was the Bucks. On his own. Solo. No super team, just a bunch of losers and him.
2. So they didn’t “run it back”. Αny player staying on after this had to further suck up any ego or leave. The narrative almost every game the Bucks lost from then on is “Giannis tried but was let down by the rest of the roster.” Every single time. He is busy stat padding, hogging the ball, everyone else looks terrible.
What player in his right mind would even consider joining such a team? You would have to be pretty desperate, have no ego and no other offers. Enter poor Damien Lillard. A player who almost damaged the Blazers in a similar fashion except he is smarter and the Blazers realised it sooner and built a young core better. And of course Dame starts and gets the same abuse as everyone else. He has to work with Giannis’ inferior basketball IQ yet not make him look bad on court. This is a conundrum that Khris had figured out to a certain extent but is getting too old to carry for a whole game like he used to. Dame has to wait for Giannis to do his thing and if he gets stuck in traffic has to hope Giannis will see him so that he can get a – usually terrible – pass from him to try and score with little time and with the entire opponent’s roster knowing that he has few options.
So Dame does the Khris thing. In crunch time Giannis just keeps giving him the ball as if saying “dude I have no idea what to do when up against teams that actually defend against me!” The problem is that Giannis has believed his own hype. He keeps training for strength, he keeps trying to play bully ball, he just looks at points/assists/rebounds at the end of the game as if that is all that matters. When they win in the regular season against lesser opponents the NBA media and the Bucks marketing team shout a lot about his personal stats looking for rare and weird ones like 30point games with more than 3.14 times rotation of the Earth around Jupiter while the game was being played. When they lose against better opponents or anyone that bothers to defend Giannis with a bit of effort it is “Giannis tried but XYZ.” The narrative is always “Giannis is top dog, must be the rest of them at fault“.
And he is killing the Bucks in the meantime.
(PS Tonight the Bucks lost to the Blazers. Giannis was “player of the game” according to Bucks marketing and many fans. How does that make sense? He controlled the game most of the time other than the first quarter when he let Dame bring the ball down for a while. He just kept running the same play and forcing the Bucks to play in the same way even though it was clearly not working. What would his idol Lebron James have done? Got more players involved. Changed it up. At worse Giannis should have left the younger players get more minutes. You are not the “best player” when you are effectively killing your team both short term and in the long term.)
Bucks’ fans like to play a game called “let’s blame everyone except Giannis” which is often followed by another game called “let’s propose ludicrous trades that can’t happen”. Of course they want another championship, after all Giannis said he would “run it back” the day they won it.
That is the modern NBA. The top teams and how they play. Fast, clever basketball with constant movement and players that can think fast and execute well. Can the Bucks ever play like that? Hell no! Because Giannis can’t.
Part of Giannis’ amazing story is how he got to basketball late. He has no fundamentals, he can hardly dribble, for sure not ambidextrous and most of all, he can’t think basketball fast. He doesn’t even understand complex plays drawn out so the Bucks have to keep him out of those when necessary. It was apparent with the way coach Spanoulis tries to work around his limitations in the Paris Olympics. He kept Giannis off the floor a lot to try and get his team playing faster.
It’s not about just how fast you can get down to the other end of the floor. Giannis is great at that. And it works often in the regular season. He grabs the easy defensive rebound because his team mates clear out to let him statpad. But then the problem: instead of passing the ball to a guard, Giannis starts running the floor looking for an easy run and dunk. Any coach will tell you that this chart is ludicrous:
Giannis has the ball in his hands more than anyone by an enormous margin. Because not only does he bring the ball down, he then gets tangled in the opponents’ defence. If they are above average team even one player can confuse him and then what?
He chews up the clock looking for that easy shot by the rim (mid range is a myth – post about that coming up soon). This hurts the Bucks in multiple ways. Often it’s a turnover. Giannis is top in the NBA in turnovers most years.
When it’s not a turnover it’s a mediocre or bad pass with not much time left on the clock and not many options. So then everyone blames his team mates for missing! Giannis has always been terrible with turnovers, he has no dribble and no place holding the ball so much. At the end of last season he was the undisputed champ of the turnovers as always. Assist to turnover ratio is even worse.
The Bucks have a similar problem in defence where Giannis is slow to switch or to even understand what is going on. Again, against easy opponents in the regular season he seems awesome. But in harder match ups he really has no clue why and how they are scoring against him. People talk about his stats, blocks and such but fail to compare regular season Giannis with playoff Giannis. The drop off is enormous.
Can Giannis learn how to play modern basketball? The answer is ‘no’ or ‘absolutely impossible’. Can he find a role in a different team set up. We don’t know. He has a similar problem with the Greek national team despite a variety of different coaches trying to help him. For sure his dribbling skills are not improving. If anything the NBA officiating let’s him get away with murder most of the time and still he is near the top of the negative list of most offences for travelling, palming, 3second rules on both ends and offensive fouls. He simply can’t control his body well and he can’t think fast enough to adjust.
When Giannis won the chip he kept saying he “won it the right way” implying he was not on a superteam. I found this rather insulting to his team mates. After all they had got him to the Finals. They were losing to the Hawks with Giannis in the rotation and they got past them easily without him. Khris, Jrue and Brook got it done in every clutch situation, practically handing Giannis the Finals where things were easy.
How can we quantify those Bucks? A good way is plus minus.
No less than seven Bucks’ in the top9 for the whole league! To put that in perspective the Nuggets dominating championship year they only had 4 players in the top9.
And if somebody wants to downplay the importance of plus minus look at how even the super dominant Celtics in their championship run only feature 3 players in the top 9.
When Giannis Antetokounmpo hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2021, he didn’t just celebrate a championship—he seized the moment to craft a narrative that’s since become gospel among his admirers. “I could’ve gone to a superteam,” he famously declared, “but this is the hard way to do it, and we did it.” The implication was clear: Giannis, the loyal superstar, stuck it out with the small-market Milwaukee Bucks, eschewing the easy path of joining forces with other elite players to chase a ring. It’s a compelling story—one of grit, perseverance, and doing things “the right way.” But here’s the inconvenient truth: the 2021 Bucks were a superteam, and Giannis’ repeated insistence otherwise not only undersells his teammates but smacks of ingratitude toward the exceptional roster that carried him to glory.
Defining a Superteam
First, let’s clarify what a “superteam” actually means in the modern NBA. The term typically evokes images of star-studded lineups like the Miami Heat’s Big Three (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh) or the Golden State Warriors with Kevin Durant joining Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. These teams were built through high-profile free agency moves or trades, stacking multiple top-tier talents to dominate the league. But the essence of a superteam isn’t just about how it’s assembled—it’s about the quality of the roster. A superteam is a squad with elite talent at multiple positions, capable of overwhelming opponents through sheer firepower and versatility.
By that standard, the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks absolutely qualify. Giannis, a two-time MVP and Defensive Player of the Year, was the cornerstone, no question. But he wasn’t alone. Khris Middleton, a perennial All-Star, was a clutch shot-maker and secondary creator who averaged 23.6 points per game in the Finals, often keeping the Bucks afloat when Giannis couldn’t. Jrue Holiday, another All-Star, brought elite two-way play—his defense on Chris Paul in the Finals was a masterclass, and his 27-point, 13-assist Game 5 performance was pivotal. Add in Brook Lopez, a former All-Star and one of the league’s best rim protectors, and you’ve got a starting lineup with three All-Stars and a near-All-Star big man. That’s not a scrappy underdog story—that’s a superteam, plain and simple.
The Bucks’ Talent Stacking
Critics might argue that the Bucks didn’t feel like a superteam because they weren’t a glamorous, big-market juggernaut assembled via blockbuster trades or free-agent coups. Fair enough—Milwaukee didn’t lure Giannis to South Beach or pair him with LeBron in LA. But the Bucks’ front office didn’t exactly sit on their hands, either. They traded for Jrue Holiday in November 2020, giving up a haul of picks and players to land a proven star who’d made All-Defensive teams and had playoff pedigree. Middleton had already blossomed into a borderline top-20 player by then, and Lopez’s transformation into a stretch-five anchor solidified the roster’s balance. This wasn’t a ragtag group of role players elevating Giannis—it was a carefully constructed, top-heavy team designed to win a title.
Compare that to true “non-superteam” champions. The 2004 Detroit Pistons, often cited as the gold standard for doing it “the hard way,” had no MVP-caliber star and relied on a balanced attack led by Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace. The 2011 Dallas Mavericks leaned heavily on Dirk Nowitzki, but their supporting cast—Jason Terry, Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd—wasn’t loaded with All-Stars in their prime. The Bucks, by contrast, had three players who’d been All-Stars within the prior three years, plus a former All-Star in Lopez. That’s not “the hard way”—that’s a roster most teams would kill for.
Giannis’ Narrative: Ungrateful or Just Naive?
So why does Giannis keep pushing this “no superteam” line? It’s possible he genuinely believes it, viewing superteams as only those formed by stars jumping ship to join forces elsewhere. He stayed loyal to Milwaukee, signing a supermax extension in 2020 when he could’ve chased rings with, say, the Heat or Mavericks. That loyalty is admirable, and it’s true he didn’t take the LeBron-to-Miami or KD-to-Golden-State route. But loyalty doesn’t erase the fact that the Bucks built a powerhouse around him—one he didn’t have to leave to find.
More troubling, though, is how his rhetoric diminishes the contributions of Middleton, Holiday, and Lopez. When Giannis says he did it “without a superteam,” he’s implicitly suggesting his teammates weren’t on that elite level—like he carried a bunch of scrubs to the promised land. That’s not just inaccurate; it’s ungrateful. Middleton’s Game 4 heroics (40 points) and Holiday’s lockdown defense were as critical to the title as Giannis’ 50-point closeout in Game 6. Stephen Jackson, a former NBA champ himself, called this out in 2021, arguing that Giannis “diminished” his teammates by rejecting the superteam label. “You have a superteam—you might not have super names, but don’t diminish your teammates,” Jackson said. He had a point.
The Right Way or Just His Way?
Giannis’ “right way” mantra also carries a whiff of moral superiority, as if winning with a homegrown core is inherently nobler than joining forces elsewhere. It’s a romantic notion, but it’s not like he turned down a barren roster to tough it out in Milwaukee. The Bucks gave him a championship-caliber supporting cast—something stars like Damian Lillard in Portland never got. Giannis didn’t do it “the hard way” out of some selfless crusade; he did it because the Bucks made it possible. Contrast that with players like Charles Barkley or Karl Malone, who toiled on good-but-not-great teams and never won. That’s the hard way. Giannis had it better than he lets on.
Give Credit Where It’s Due
The 2021 Milwaukee Bucks were a superteam—not in the flashy, headline-grabbing sense, but in the cold, hard reality of their talent and execution. Giannis was the engine, no doubt, but Middleton, Holiday, and Lopez were the gears that made it run. His insistence on framing it as a solo triumph “without a superteam” isn’t just a mischaracterization—it’s a disservice to the teammates who helped him climb the mountain. Loyalty is a virtue, and Giannis deserves praise for sticking with Milwaukee. But let’s not pretend he did it alone or “the right way” out of some unique hardship. He had a damn good team—a superteam—and it’s time he owned that instead of rewriting the story to fit a humble-brag narrative. Gratitude, not just greatness, is what champions are made of.That was a super dominant team Giannis had helping him. A super team. They shot the lights out from three breaking multiple records in the NBA. They all put their egos aside to get Giannis to the Finals which were actually an easier game than what they had got through until there.
And just for a second maybe sit and think how his team mates felt hearing him Giannis say again and again that he did it “the right way” “without a superteam”…
