It is not just the stats. It is the lack of basketball IQ that is showing as the league moves ahead with young, able players that show him up more and more. Giannis’ fans confuse the way he plays in the regular season with real NBA basketball. Because he is so willing to play hard a lot of teams let him roam freely rather than get injured. But when it counts? Here are some of his many many weaknesses in defence.
Giannis often suffers guarding forwards and bigs, but his size and foot speed can be an even bigger liability against smaller, faster guards. Players who excel at creating space—like Steph Curry or Trae Young—can sometimes pull him out to the three-point line and exploit his less agile lateral movement. One area where this might stand out is in pick-and-roll defense. Giannis often plays as a roaming help defender or rim protector, using his length to disrupt plays. However, when teams force him to switch onto quicker guards or navigate screens, his lack lateral agility is tested. He’s not as nimble as smaller defenders, so shifty players like Kyrie Irving can occasionally exploit that initial hesitation before he recalibrates. It’s less about a lack of effort or skill and more about his 6’11” frame needing a beat to shift gears against certain matchups.
Giannis thinks he is a phenomenal help defender, often swooping in for blocks. However, this aggression can lead him to overcommit, leaving his man open if the pass gets kicked out. Teams with good ball movement, like the Warriors or Celtics, can punish this by swinging the ball to shooters when he collapses into the paint. He has a tendency to gamble for blocks or steals. Giannis loves to hunt highlight-reel plays, which can leave him out of position if he misreads the offense. For instance, if he bites on a pump fake or overcommits to help, the defense behind him has to scramble, and it might look like he’s slow to recover. Stats-wise, the Bucks’ defensive rating with him on the floor (around 108-110 in recent seasons) may still look OK, but those moments of adjustment can stick out in a game. He has an over-Reliance on Help Defense.
He is also terrible at screen navigation: In pick-and-roll-heavy schemes, Giannis can struggle to fight through or around screens efficiently. (And we all know he can’t set a screen to save his life, one of the worse in the league at it.) His length helps him recover, but crafty offenses can use multiple screens to force him into awkward positions, either isolating him on an island or pulling him away from the rim where he’s most dominant. And he is slow to understand what is going on which in clutch situations is often fatal for his team.
His physicality is a strength, but it can backfire with foul trouble. Giannis sometimes picks up cheap fouls contesting shots or battling in the post—averaging around 3 fouls per game. Against savvy vets like Joel Embiid or Nikola Jokić, who draw contact, he can get stuck on the bench, weakening the Bucks’ defense.
While he’s OK at reading passing lanes (around 1 steal per game), Giannis can occasionally lose track of cutters or shooters when he’s not directly engaged with the ball handler. Teams that run complex off-ball actions—like the Heat with their motion offense—can exploit this if he’s not locked in. Positioning on Off-Ball Plays is definitely a weakness for Giannis.
The Bucks’ scheme often masks these flaws by pairing him with guys like Jrue Holiday (now gone) or Brook Lopez, who clean up perimeter and paint mistakes. But it can only go so far and for sure teams discussing trades are concerned about these weaknesses. Combined with his inability in clutch situations, Giannis is more of a regular season try hard player than anything else.
What should really worry the Bucks is the fact that Giannis doesn’t seem able to improve. Like his free throws (worse ever in his career so far) and his 3point shooting (worse in NBA history). Instead they make a fuss about a mid range which is a myth as it disappears when the pressure is on. I’m not the only one seeing these facts and stats. The whole league knows his limitations and plays accordingly when it counts.
