The 2024-2025 NBA season is almost underway and the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo will have high expectations this season. Milwaukee no doubt has two of the Top 30 players in the NBA entering this season with Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
The playoffs have not been kind to Milwaukee over the last two seasons. They lost to the Miami Heat in the first round during the 2022-2023 postseason and lost to the Indiana Pacers during the 2023-2024 postseason.
CBS Sports Ranks Milwaukee Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo As the Second-Best Player In the NBA Entering the 2024-2025 NBA Season
Entering the 2024-2025 NBA season, the CBS Sports staff ranked its Top 100 players in the NBA. One of the most interesting things on the list was who was ranked in the Top 10.
There is no argument that Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is the best player in the NBA right now. He has won the last three of four NBA MVP Awards and some could even argue Jokic should have won it for four straight seasons. Only Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers has won an MVP in that span during the 2022-2023 season.
After Jokic was ranked as the top player in the league, there was a massive argument about who could be the second-best player in the NBA. There could be a case for Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder for that spot. However, CBS Sports thinks that Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks is the second-best player in the NBA entering the 2024-2025 season.
Jack Maloney of CBS Sports said:
“There was a feeling of déjà vu for the Greek Freak last season, as he put together another historic campaign — he finished in the top-15 in scoring, rebounding and assists, and joined Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson as the only players to average at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in multiple seasons — but was once again a non-factor in the playoffs due to an injury. Things may not have gone to plan for Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in the last few years, but he remains one of the most dominant forces in the league on both sides of the ball.”
A season ago, Antetokounmpo was also ranked as the second-best player in the NBA by CBS Sports. For the upcoming 2024-2025 season, Doncic was ranked third, Gilgeous-Alexander was fourth, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers was fifth, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors was sixth, and Tatum was ranked seventh.
Missed Playoffs Due To Injury
Antetokounmpo played in 73 games last season for the Milwaukee Bucks. He missed the final few games of the regular season and also the postseason with an injury. The injury affected the Bucks and they missed his presence on the floor.
He is only 29 years old and Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the best two-way players in the NBA. Having Antetokounmpo as the second-ranked player in the NBA by CBS Sports right behind Nikola Jokic goes to show how great of a player he currently is.
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