Giannis Antetokounmpo has been the Milwaukee Bucks’ leader for many years now — both on and off the court. He is, without a doubt, the alpha dog. So what happens when another alpha enters the picture?
This is the exact dilemma the Bucks will have to deal with following their Damian Lillard blockbuster trade.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Giannis Antetokounmpo Keeps It Real
In a recent interview with Eric Nehm of The Athletic, Giannis shared his brutally honest thoughts about this specific issue. According to the Bucks talisman, he recognizes the challenge he’s facing in terms of sharing the leadership role with his new superstar teammate:
“You can feel it with Dame. You know he’s a leader,” Antetokounmpo said. “He’s been leading his team the last 10 years. I think he went, like, seven times in the playoffs. He’s been leading his team. But it’s kind of it’s hard. And for me, like I cannot imagine myself leading a team in Milwaukee and going to play with a great guy also in his team and try to be vocal. Like, it’s hard. And he’s a guy that he doesn’t really say much, he talks on the court.”
Nevertheless, Antetokounmpo is adamant that this won’t be a problem for him, Dame, or the Bucks. It is clear that Giannis is willing to do whatever it takes to make Lillard feel right at home in Milwaukee:
“But at the end of the day for me, whenever we have conversation, I’m always listening, I listen to him. Like he was talking to me today, like ‘Hey, Giannis, we gotta, boom, boom, boom.’ Got you. You know, then we were talking some about the pick-and-roll, how would we run this, and I looked at him and I said, ‘Whatever way you want it to be run.’ And the one thing that I can say, as a leader and as a teammate, you kind of give that power to the guy. Like ‘Hey man … you’ve been here three, four, five days, it doesn’t matter. When you get the ball, you put us in a position. We run it the way you want to run it. I feel like it kind of hits you like, ‘Oh, OK. OK. This is my s—. This is mine. I’m going to do it my way.’”
Damian Lillard Is an ‘Artist’
It might take them some time, but I’m pretty confident that Milwaukee will figure it out. Giannis has the right mindset in place, and it appears that it’s the same case for Lillard. Honestly, they can’t afford not to make this work.
Once they are able to get on the same wavelength, though, these two are going to produce some pretty beautiful basketball.
“So you got to give guys like him freedom, because he’s an artist, man. He’s got to create art. And hopefully, when you’re next to him, you can also create your own art and then you create the art together,” Giannis said.
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