When basketball legends are mentioned, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal among others come up. Current players reaching the level of the above-named are LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
With his legendary Finals performance, Giannis Antetokounmpo joined the super elites of the game.
Only 26-years old, Giannis averaged 35.2 ppg, 13.2rpg and 5apg in the championship series, becoming the first player in NBA Finals history to average 30+ points, 10+ rebounds and 5+ assists on at least 60% shooting. According to Basketball Reference’s database, he’s the first player to have 50 points, 10+ rebounds and 5 blocks in any playoff game.
It has been a long 50 years since Milwaukee had their title and the 50 points Giannis scored was just fitting. He was almost laser-guided in that close-out game, making 16 of 25 shots and converting 17 of 19 free throws.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, was a legend in the making at that time and at 24-years old, he was instrumental in that title run, becoming the Finals MVP and regular season MVP.
In a comparative data among legends when they were 26, Giannis has an NBA title, a Finals MVP and 2 regular season MVPs.
Magic Johnson 1 title 0 F-MVP 0 MVP
Larry Bird 0 title 0 F-MVP 0 MVP
Wilt Chamberlain 0 title 0 F-MVP 1 MVP
Michael Jordan 0 title 0 F-MVP 1 MVP
Shaquille O’Neal 0 title 0 F-MVP 0 MVP
Kobe Bryant 0 title 0 F-MVP 0 MVP
Lebron James 0 title 0 F-MVP 2 MVP
Kevin Durant 0 title 0 F-MVP 1 MVP
Steph Curry 0 title 0 F-MVP 0 MVP
As per StatMuse, the Greek Freak is the first player in league history to win MVP, F-MVP, Most Improved Player and Defensive Player of the Year. No other way to say it – freakish.
Meanwhile, Chris Paul is battling father time and the latter is always undefeated.16 years is a long stretch to get into the NBA Finals and getting back to the next post-season will be a hard climb. It’s going to be a wait-and-see for CP3 and the rest of the Suns who just disappeared in the horizon.