Getty Patrick Beverley, Giannis Antetokounmpo
Patrick Beverley has played only 13 games with the Milwaukee Bucks. However, he’s left a strong impression on his teammates, like Giannis Antetokounmpo, despite his short time with the team.
After the Bucks beat the Los Angeles Clippers on March 10, Antetokounmpo gave his candid thoughts on playing next to Beverley.
Giannis Antetokounmpo on Patrick Beverley:
“He’s one of those guys that — Sorry for my language — that you say, ‘he’s an A-hole.’ But when he plays on your team, like, ‘that’s my a-hole.’ You know? And I love him. We love playing with him. He’s a leader, he knows how to play the…
“He’s one of those guys that — Sorry for my language — that you say, ‘he’s an A-hole.’ But when he plays on your team, like, ‘that’s my a-hole.’ You know? And I love him. We love playing with him. He’s a leader. He knows how to play the game. He’s a winner,” Antetokounmpo said, per ClutchPoints Tomer Azarly’s X account.
Antetokounmpo added that he hated playing against Beverley in the past, making him appreciate Beverley as a teammate.
“I’ve been playing against him for a lot of years now. I don’t think I ever liked playing against him. He always caught me once a game. He’s an instigator. He’ll push your buttons, but having him on your own team, he makes the game easier for us.”
Patrick Beverley joins the list of defense-first guards that Giannis Antetokounmpo has familiarized with in Milwaukee, including Eric Bledsoe and Jrue Holiday.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Prefers Watching EuroLeague Over NBA
Though Giannis Antetokounmpo reigns as one of the NBA’s best players, he usually doesn’t watch NBA highlights. Giannis himself admitted this in an exclusive interview with Greek publication Amerikanos 24. While he watches basketball highlights, they’re not NBA highlights.
He admitted that instead, he watches highlights of professional basketball in his native country, Greece. He watches it so that he can watch his brother, Kostas Antetokounmpo.
“I watch both Panathinaikos and Olympiacos,” Antetokounmpo said (translated into English), per Amerikanos24’s YouTube Channel. “I don’t watch all the matches. I watch the highlights. I think Panathinaikos is third and Olympiacos fourth? I wish both of us the best. I wish Kostas to come back healthy. To be strong, to be able to do the best he can for the team, to help his team, to win as many games as he can. And, like I said, I wish both of us the best. I watch but I don’t see the matches. I only see the highlights. I really like it, I don’t watch NBA. But I watch Euroleague”.
Kostas played in the NBA from 2018 to 2021 with the Lakers and Bulls. He currently plays for Panathinaikos, as Giannis alluded to.
Champion Would Take LeBron James Over Giannis Antetokounmpo
Three-time NBA Champion Udonis Haslem admitted on the March 5 episode of “The OGs” that he would take LeBron James over Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Haslem used an instance from 2011 to explain the difference between the two players, despite LeBron being 39 years old.
“This is not knocking anything that Giannis does, man, but what I’m saying is I’m going with the skillset. I’m going off of what I see. I watched after we lost that playoff series against Dallas in the playoffs. I watched Bron get in the m********** lab and come back next summer the next year with s*** that I never seen him do. I have not watched Giannis come back yet with s*** I ain’t seen. I’m still waiting.”
LeBron was 26 when the Heat lost to the Mavericks in 2011. He’s won four championships since then, but he has also suffered playoff losses that he hasn’t recovered from. Giannis Antetokounmpo has done the same.