Every year, the NBA season is plagued with ranking conversations. Whether it’s teams or players, fans and media alike are throwing their versions of rankings into the world. Even players are asked who they believe are the best teams and best players in the league, and Giannis Antetokounmpo was the latest.
The Milwaukee Bucks star was recently asked some questions by Complex Sports, and one of them was, ‘Who is the best player in the NBA?’ His answer? Jaylen Brown. “I feel like the best player is the guy that wins the championship, wins it all, and is the best player on the team,” Antetokounmpo said. “So, the best player in the NBA, I would probably say Jaylen Brown. Because you cannot have your best player if you're on a team who didn't win. It doesn't matter if you got the MVP or you're All-NBA. If you don't make your team win, you're not the best.”
Immediately, Celtics fans got all up in arms, defending Jayson Tatum. But they shouldn’t.
Giannis calls Jaylen Brown best player in NBA
This isn’t the first time Antetokounmpo has been asked this question. And every time he’s asked, he maintains the same stance: The best player on the best team is the best player in the NBA.
In this case, the Celtics won the title last year, and Brown was the NBA Finals MVP. In Antetokounmpo’s eyes, that makes him the best player. It’s that simple.
Is there a chance that Antetokounmpo is trying to pull a Jason Kidd and put a dividing force between Tatum and Brown? Maybe. But it doesn’t seem likely based on the way he’s historically answered this question.
The Bucks star hasn’t made a name for himself by trash-talking and calling out players in the media. That’s just not usually his style. This take on Brown doesn’t seem malicious in any way.
Regardless, even if Antetokounmpo was trying to be rude and throw a shot at the Celtics, they wouldn’t care.
Time and time again, as their names have been thrown into the fire by the media, the Celtics’ focus has remained internal. They don’t care about what the outside world has to say. They only care about improving.
Brown had an amazing playoff run and earned his Finals MVP. But Tatum was great, too. He didn’t shoot the ball well, but he was excelling in every other part of the game.
Hearing Antetokounmpo say that Brown is the best player on the Celtics isn’t some crazy new take. Kidd used it to try to get in Boston’s head during the Finals. But this is different.
When Kidd said it, it felt like a direct attempt to create a divide. When Antetokounmpo said it, it felt like he was just continuing the same thought process he’s used throughout the course of his career.