Spotlight or No Spotlight, Giannis Antetokounmpo Is an NBA Superstar

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — It’s early in the third quarter of the Milwaukee Bucks’ 111-93 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Sean Kilpatrick feeds Trevor Booker a bounce pass just outside the paint. Booker surveys the landscape for a tick, quickly realizing he won’t establish proper position as his defender pushes up against him.

The resistance is strong enough to keep Booker off-balance but innocent enough to avoid a foul call. Booker puts the ball on the floor, gradually backing his way toward the basket. His defender separates his feet ever so slightly, trying to hold ground.

A cartoonishly long arm reaches in mid-dribble, poking the ball away from Booker. He tracks it down, only for that same lanky arm to seize possession.

Three dribbles and a Eurostep later, the new ball-handler has gone almost the length of the floor. He misses a contested layup. Loosely surrounded by Booker and Brook Lopez, he grabs his own rebound, then finishes what he started.

Giannis Antetokounmpo has scored again.

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“He’s a great player,” Kilpatrick said. “Someone who’s able to dribble the ball at his height and really run the point. He’s one of those guys where it only takes four or five steps for him to get to the basket from the other end.”

Isaiah Whitehead added: “He’s tremendously long. He’s a point guard in a center’s body.”

These moments, the ones when he does everything, have become routine for Antetokounmpo this season, his fourth in the NBA.

Which is fitting, because that’s exactly what he does and what he is to the Milwaukee Bucks: everything.

For a variety of reasons, Antetokounmpo’s rise isn’t talked about in such terms. He plays in Milwaukee. The Bucks aren’t a bona fide contender. He doesn’t shoot threes. Russell Westbrook is averaging a triple-double. LeBron James is basically right there with him. The Golden State Warriors exist.

Whitehead admits he didn’t see a lot of Antetokounmpo while he was playing at Seton Hall because the Bucks didn’t garner enough national attention. Not even his $100 million extension in the offseason entirely shifted perception. Teams heavily invest in unfinished products. That’s not new. 

And so it goes. Antetokounmpo’s breakout is “coming” or “in progress,” seldom “here” or “complete.” 

Only, that’s not true.

Antetokounmpo is no longer a billboard for potential. His skills are not …

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