Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo won’t love Kevin Garnett’s eye-opening admission
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been one of the top players in the league for years, and he has some hardware to prove it. This previous season didn’t end the way he wanted to after suffering an injury late and the Milwaukee Bucks losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Indiana Pacers. Despite the underwhelming season, it’s hard to look over what Antetokounmpo can do, but Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett are questioning where he ranks in the Eastern Conference.
Pierce posed the question to Garnett if Antetokounmpo was the best player in the East, and Garnett had an interesting answer.
“You can’t say that with [Joel] Embiid over there, and with Jayson Tatum over there… He’s probably like the 4th best player in the East,” Garnett said.
Paul Pierce: “Is Giannis the best player in the East?”
Kevin Garnett: “You can’t say that with [Joel] Embiid over there, and with Jayson Tatum over there… He’s probably like the 4th best player in the East?”
Agree or disagree?
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— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) August 26, 2024
Pierce and Garnett then started naming players who could be in the argument such as Jayson Tatum and Joel Embiid.
“Tatum’s at the top, he just won a championship,” Pierce said. “I’m taking [Giannis] over Embiid. Embiid be working himself into shape.”
With Antetokounmpo’s resume, there’s no way that he’s the fourth-best player in the Eastern Conference, and there’s an argument that he shouldn’t be third either.
Where does Giannis Antetokounmpo rank in the Eastern Conference?
Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, and Joel Embiid are arguably the top three players in the Eastern Conference, but who ranks at the top could be a conversation.
If recency bias is a part of the argument, then Tatum could currently hold the top spot before the season starts. Tatum and the Boston Celtics won the recent championship, but it was Jaylen Brown who won all the awards, including Eastern Conference Finals MVP and Finals MVP. Nonetheless, there’s no question what Tatum has done, and he’s undoubtedly the best player on the Celtics.
Embiid has shown over the years that he’s one of the best centers in the league, and he continues to battle with Nikola Jokic for the top spot in that conversation. Embiid has an MVP, but he can’t get over the playoff hump, as he’s never made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in his career.
Out of Embiid and Tatum, Antetokounmpo has the most accomplishments, winning two MVPs, a championship, and a Finals MVP. The knock on the Bucks’ star is that he hasn’t gotten out of the first round the past two seasons, but it’s been because of injuries.
Every year, the Bucks are favored to win the Eastern Conference because of Antetokounmpo, and as long as he’s on the team, they’ll be a high seed in the conference. The Bucks will be bringing back the same squad from last year, and if they can stay healthy, they’ll once again be fighting for a championship.
The post Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo won’t love Kevin Garnett’s eye-opening admission appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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