Giannis Antetokounmpo is often viewed as a top candidate to become the next face of the NBA once LeBron James is ready to pass the title along. But how viable of a candidate is Giannis?
As FOX Sports Radio’s Joy Taylor noted Thursday afternoon, the Milwaukee Bucks superstar just headbutted Mo Wagner mid-game and no one cares.
“Giannis is an amazing player, he’s a great guy, he’s fun to watch, he’s incredible,” said Taylor, who co-hosts The Herd with Colin Cowherd. “But if LeBron did that, the whole world would stop…and that is why Giannis will never be the face of the league, because he can headbutt someone and nobody even talks about it.”
Regardless of where the NBA ratings stand during their restart, even league detractors would be all over LeBron if he lost his cool and unleashed a headbutt mid-game. But when Giannis does it, it’s a secondary news story.
Giannis is 25 years old, he’s finishing up his seventh season in the NBA and is currently a perennial MVP candidate. Following LeBron’s seventh season he was criticized for not yet winning a championship, condemned for The Decision and mocked for saying the Miami Heat would win seven titles. By the time James was 25, he had already been living under a microscope for nearly a decade. Giannis may have surpassed LeBron as the best basketball player on the planet, but as Taylor points out, it doesn’t mean he’ll ever be the face of the NBA.
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at Brandon.Contes@gmail.com.
The over emphasis on this is interesting. I just think it’s all in a way to push the LeBron agenda and undermine giannis as a great player who has worked hard to be where he is. No doubt LeBron is a great but let’s stop the over sensationalising of him… Giannis is an equally great player and is simply not as embraced because of his Nigerian and Greek heritage. If Giannis had been a high school prospect in the states.. It will be a different story today. Simple
1st of all nobody named Giannis the greatest ever before he stepped on the NBA court! The pressure was on LeBron because the media pushed him into Jordan conversations while he was still in homeroom. Giannis came along silent and took the league by surprise and still doesn’t ask for attention. Joy you sound ridiculous and you always have something negative to say about The Greek Freak…