Giannis Antetokounmpo Explains Why He Doesn't Want To Be The Face Of The NBA: "I Wanna Say 'Hasta Luego, Kisses, Bye-Bye"

Giannis Antetokounmpo spoke on why he doesn't care about being the face of the NBA.

Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

There is a lot of debate on just who is currently the best player in the NBA and Giannis Antetokounmpo is certainly a part of that conversation. He might well be the best after silencing his doubters by winning his first championship in 2021 and if not for an untimely injury to Khris Middleton, he and the Milwaukee Bucks could have defended their crown. 

That failure has spurred them on this season, and the Bucks seem like a team on a mission. They are on a league-best 10-game-winning run at the moment and are within touching distance of the top-seeded Boston Celtics, whom they face on Tuesday night.

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Giannis is averaging 37.3 PPG, 13.4 RPG, and 5.5 APG in this stretch while shooting 59.8% from the field as he continues to terrorize helpless opponents. What stands out about Giannis, though, is how humble he is despite all his success and he isn't someone who desperately wants the spotlight on him. In fact, Giannis even went on to say recently that he doesn't want to be the face of the NBA.

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"I don't care about that. I only care about winning. I only care about having fun, I want to enjoy the game. I want to be healthy. I want to compete in a high level for as many years as I have left and I want to go back home to my kids and enjoy my time with my kids."

"I don't believe being the face of the NBA changes or makes you play better or makes you play worse. I've seen people that want to be the face in the NBA, but you don't compete, you don't make your team great, it doesn't really matter. I want to make my team great, I want to compete. I want to enjoy the game. And when it’s all said and done, I wanna say 'hasta luego, kisses, bye-bye’ and I’ll be on one tropical island and I'm not going to be watching the game." 

All he cares about is winning and having fun and you have to respect that. This isn't the first time that Giannis has said something along these lines either, as he stated previously that he wanted to disappear after he retires from the NBA, as Tim Duncan seemingly has.

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Kevin Garnett Picked Giannis Antetokounmpo As The Best Player In The NBA Over Nikola Jokic

While Giannis is having a phenomenal season, it is Nikola Jokic who is once again leading the MVP race. The Serbian is trying to do something that even Giannis and Duncan failed to do, win 3 MVPs in a row. No one has done it since Larry Bird in the 1980s and while Jokic might well win the award again, Kevin Garnett believes that it is Giannis who is the best player in the league.

He pointed to Giannis' impact on the defensive end as the reason for it, as Jokic is an average defender at best. It is a fair point to make and there really is no one in the league at the moment who has as big of an impact on both ends of the court as Giannis does. Antetokounmpo wouldn't particularly care about losing out on MVPs though, as his focus is on winning his second championship.

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