Bucks’ Antetokounmpo answering own question
MILWAUKEE – Giannis Antetokounmpo was in a good mood as he got ready to address the media in the visitor’s locker room of the United Center. The Milwaukee Bucks had just won their fifth straight game on March 2 in Chicago and, for the first time in a long time, things were clicking on the court.
He was asked if he felt more confidence in his jump shot and his passing and, as he answered those questions, he took a slight detour by adding, “I feel like I’m just over myself. I have an all-time great teammate (in Damian Lillard) that I have to pick my spots. I cannot be all over the place anymore.”
In the moment, it appeared as a brief aside. But it meant much, much more.
To know why is to go back to March 2020 when basketball was suddenly gone. A new father, Antetokounmpo faced his professional mortality at just 25 years old. When basketball returned, it was quarantined in an Orlando “bubble.” The Bucks, who were steamrolling their way to one of the best seasons in league history before the shutdown, lost in the second round of the playoffs.
Yet, he became the first player since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994 – and the third ever – to claim the league’s most valuable player and defensive player of the year awards in the same season. He was the 12th player to win consecutive MVPs. Ultimate team success, however, remained painfully out of reach.
What else can I do?
He signed the largest contract in NBA history in December 2020. And he was ready to leave basketball. It was around this time he began speaking with a sports psychologist. He was learning how to “be OK with myself.” Part of that included a breakthrough on the court: I’m over myself.
The player who fans believe bellowed “I’m the (expletive) MVP!” to a frothy home crowd during his first MVP campaign, the one who did the “king me” celebration against LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers in his next, had to be left behind to some degree.
This was such a crucial time for Antetokounmpo. It feels like the distant past, yet it has everything to do with the present – because it led him to a championship, and set him up for the best basketball he’s ever played.
Make no mistake, Antetokounmpo always wanted to be an MVP, to win a scoring title, to be the best.
Once basketball began again in an empty TD Garden on Dec. 23, 2020, however, Antetokounmpo was ready to embark on this mission. Some knew of the work he had put in on himself, how his mindset was evolving. But he would not say the phrase “I’m over myself”in public until nearly a year later.
Antetokounmpo, 29, spoke with the Journal Sentinel on this topic in a series of interviews over the last three seasons, recognizing that arriving to that place took time.
But it doesn’t mean he’s “over” winning more MVPs or being recognized for his play.
“No. No. It’s just maturity,” he allowed. “Like, I know what I’m capable of, I know who I am and I know what makes me tick.”
Interestingly – and perhaps not coincidentally – his first season operating on the court with that mentality saw the Bucks win an NBA championship.
Of course, in 2020-21, the team had improved. All-star point guard Jrue Holiday was added in the offseason, and defensive firecracker P.J. Tucker was acquired for the stretch run.
“It has probably allowed him to read the game a little more clearly and understand that sometimes, like from a basketball IQ standpoint, knowing what a team is gonna try to do,” Bucks guard Pat Connaughton said.
And more than that, Antetokounmpo had to watch his team advance to the NBA Finals without him. Injured for the final two games of the Eastern Conference finals, the Bucks carried him. He was truly a part of something bigger.
The rest, of course, is history. The Block. The lob. Fifty points in Game 6.
During all-star weekend of that championship season, Antetokounmpo was recognized by the NBA as one of the Top 75 players in its history.
Antetokounmpo was one of 11 active players on the team. LeBron James was there. So was Stephen Curry. And Kevin Durant. They had something he did not, yet. A championship.
They all knew exactly what Antetokounmpo had been seeking, and the change in mindset that it often takes.
By the start of the 2021-22 season, Antetokounmpo joined their club. The regular season MVPs. He added a Finals MVP. A ring.
Now, the question of “what else can I do?” has different answers.
For Antetokounmpo, “It means that if I score six or if I score 30, it doesn’t matter. I know what I’m capable of, you know? I know what I can give to the team every single night.”