Milwaukee Bucks star power forward Giannis Antetokounmpo said on Sunday at Warriors Media Day that Golden State Warriors star guard Stephen Curry is the best player in the NBA.
This statement came in response to the recently released ESPN annual list of the top 100 NBA players, which ranked Antetokounmpo first and Curry fifth. The 27-year-old star, however, felt he did not deserve the title after failling his team to a championship last season.
“I think the best player in the world is the person that is the last man standing,” Antetokounmpo said. “It’s the person that takes his team to the Finals, the finish line and helps them win the game. … that’s how I view it. I believe the best player in the world is Steph Curry.”
Antetokounmpo led the Bucks to four consecutive victories and their second title in franchise history, with the Bucks trailing the Phoenix Suns in the 2021 NBA Finals. He scored 50 points in a historic Game 6 to give himself a chance at the top spot. However, the Bucks were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics in a seven-game series last season.
In the interview, the NBA champion admitted that he became envious of Golden State’s accomplishments, which he believes should have been his.
“The feeling I felt, it was a nice feeling,” he said. “I got jealous of Golden State, seeing them in the parade and the ESPYs. You know that feeling now. You know what is getting stripped away from you.”
Giannis “Greek Freak” Antetokounmpo has had a scoring title, averaging 29.9 points (third in the NBA), 11.6 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game last season. In the postseason, Antetokounmpo averaged 31.7 points, 14.2 rebounds, and 6.8 assists. He is the only player in league history to have two seasons in which he averaged at least 29 points.
Curry’s response
Curry responded to Antetokounmpo’s claim, saying, “I would say the same thing when you’re facing the champions,”
“That’s part of like the nature of the league. We all want to win the championship, and when you look at the team that’s the last team standing and who was playing the best — I was thinking the same thing about him last year, coming off their run. “
Even though his ankle injury kept him out of the game for the final month of the regular season, Curry managed only to average 25.5 points per game on 43.7% shooting, his lowest mark since 2016-17.
The four-time NBA champion averaged 27.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game while shooting 45.9% from the field and 39.7% from three in Golden State’s four playoff series.
With the Bucks and Warriors being two of the most likely Finals teams heading into the new NBA season, which begins next month, Curry said that Antetokounmpo’s compliment will not change his determination to win when they face off.
“So, I appreciate the compliment,” Curry said. “It’s not going to soften me up to get complacent at all. But you do appreciate the respect of your peers to say stuff like that, and I’ve been in the situation where I’m complimenting guys around the league a lot as well.”
In ESPN’s NBArank 2022, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid, who averaged 30.6 points per game, ranked fourth behind Curry. Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks is ranked third. Nikola Jokic, a Serbian player for the Denver Nuggets, is ranked second.