Did the NBA title catapult Giannis Antetokounmpo past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as Milwaukee Bucks' greatest player?
Giannis Antetokounmpo joined the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as an NBA champion on Tuesday after the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns for the 2021 title. They had a parade on Thursday to celebrate the Bucks’ first championship in 50 years, and the outpouring of love for Antetokounmpo from the city of Milwaukee continues to grow.
As he ascends to greater heights, his ranking on the Milwaukee Bucks’ all-time greats is a legitimate discussion. With the NBA title in tow, does Giannis Antetokounmpo stand eye-to-eye with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? After all, both players each won a championship for the Bucks and they’re also multiple-time MVPs in Milwaukee.
For the longest time, no one has dared enter Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s air space as the greatest Milwaukee Bucks player ever. Now, he has serious competition with Giannis Antetokounmpo nipping at his heels.
Let’s look at what each one has accomplished in a Milwaukee Bucks uniform.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Seasons with the Bucks: 6 (1969-70 to 1974-75)
Stats with the Bucks: 30.4 PPG, 15.3 RPG, 4.3 APG, 3.4 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 54.7% FG Pct.
Awards / Accomplishments: 1969-70 Rookie of the Year, 1969-70 All-Rookie Team, 3 MVP Awards, 1x Finals MVP, 6x All-Star, 5x All-NBA, 4x All-Defensive, 1x NBA champion, 2x scoring champion, 1x blocks champion
Milwaukee Bucks franchise career records: 1st total points, 1st total rebounds, 1st field goals, 1st field goal attempts, 1st field goal percentage, 1st points per game, 1st rebounds per game
He started his career as Lew Alcindor with the Milwaukee Bucks before changing his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when he converted to Islam in 1971. No matter the name change, his game stayed the same. With his patented sky-hook, Abdul-Jabbar terrorized defenders on his way to the Rookie of the Year Award in 1969-70 and won the first of his three MVPs in 1971, his second season in the NBA.
Kareem carried the Milwaukee Bucks to the league’s best record that year (66-16) and to their first NBA title (12-2 record in the playoffs) in only their third year of existence. He was also named Finals MVP and helped Oscar Robertson win his first ring.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took the Bucks to the Finals again, but lost in 1974. In all, he played six years for the franchise before he was traded to the LA Lakers.
In just six seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar still owns a number of franchise records, including points (14,211), rebounds (7,161), scoring average (30.4 ppg), field goals made (5,902) and more. He is fourth in blocks (495) only because the statistic wasn’t kept until his final two seasons in Milwaukee.
When his career was over, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1995, and had his No. 33 was retired by the Bucks on April 24, 1993.
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Seasons with the Bucks: 8 (2013-14 to 2020-21)
Stats with the Bucks: 20.9 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 4.5 APG, 1.3 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 53.2% FG Pct.
Awards / Accomplishments: 2013-14 All-Rookie Team, 1x Most Improved Player, 2 MVPs, 1x Finals MVP, 1x All-Star MVP, 1x Defensive Player of the Year, 5x All-Star, 5x All-NBA, 4x All-Defensive, 1x NBA champion
Milwaukee Bucks franchise career records: 1st defensive rebounds, 1st triple-doubles
Giannis Antetokounmpo was a lanky, untested 18-year-old when he started his career with the Milwaukee Bucks. His overall stats may not look much next to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s, but that’s because he was far from being a polished player when he came to the NBA.
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It took Giannis Antetokounmpo four years before his career really took off, winning the Most Improved Player Award in 2017 when he first averaged more than 20 points a night. That year, he posted 22.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.9 blocks per game.
Over his last four seasons, however, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s stats look much more comparable to NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 28.0 points, 11.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. He also shot 55.6 percent from the field during that span.
Giannis Antetokounmpo won back-to-back MVP awards during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons and won Defensive Player of the Year in 2019-20 as well. During that three-year period, the Greek Freak took the Milwaukee Bucks to the Eastern Conference Finals once, led them to a championship once.
He won Finals MVP after dominating the Suns and exploding for 50 points in the closeout game. Even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar didn’t score 50 points in the Finals, much less in a closeout game.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s career is still being written, but there’s no doubt that he will be a Hall of Famer someday and the Bucks will most definitely retire his No. 34 jersey when his playing days are over.
Verdict
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a slow start to becoming one of the greatest Milwaukee Bucks players ever. The fact that he leap-frogged over several Bucks greats in the all-time list is an incredible achievement.
However, he still has ways to go to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the greatest player in Milwaukee Bucks history. Abdul-Jabbar’s resume, though only six years worth, is still filled to the brim with awards and accomplishments that are far above those of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s...for now. The Greak Freek will be playing for the Bucks for years. He has time to match or even surpass Abdul-Jabbar.
Until then, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar remains the Milwaukee Bucks’ greatest player ever.
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