Getty Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry
Donte DiVincenzo is one of the few NBA players who has played with both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Stephen Curry. The New York Knicks wing explained how the Milwaukee Bucks star and Golden State Warriors star are similar on the February 29 episode of “Roommates Show.
“Steph and Giannis have a lot of differences obviously in how they play the game, but the similarity is how they approach every single day, and how they want to be the best in the NBA, and how they want to be the best person on your team,” DiVincenzo said, per the Roommates Show’s YouTube Channel.
DiVincenzo then elaborated on how both of their work ethics stood out to him while he played with each.
“The gap between [Steph] and the next guy in terms of pure work is insane, and I was only around it for not even 12 months. Giannis, I spent four years with him, and every single day he was in the gym. Even days where you have blackout days where no one is allowed in the gym, he’s still there. So, I think you know it’s a credit to them how much time and effort they put in, and playing with them is so much fun. It’s like one of those things you get to tell your kids after all the basketball stuff is over.”
DiVincenzo played in Milwaukee from 2018 to 2022, where he won a title in 2021. However, he only played three games during their title run before suffering a season-ending foot injury. DiVincenzo played in Golden State during the 2022-23 season.
Champion Would Take LeBron James Over Giannis
Giannis Antetokounmpo could potentially win his third MVP award. Despite that, three-time NBA champion Udonis Haslem would still take LeBron James over him at 29 years old.
On the March 5 episode of “The OGs,” Haslem referenced what James did back in Miami to explain his reasoning.
“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.”
James and the Heat lost to the Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Finals. Losing to them fueled LeBron to level up his game, which led to two consecutive championships. Giannis has also lost multiple playoff series in heartbreaking fashion before winning the title in 2021.
Doc Rivers Compared Giannis to Michael Jordan
Bucks coach Doc Rivers knows from his playing days that voters tire of voting for the same player for the same award yearly. There’s an argument that Michael Jordan didn’t win MVP multiple times for that reason.
Rivers believes the same thing will happen to Giannis Antetokounmpo for that very reason. He even directly compared Jordan to Giannis.
“I don’t even want to get into it, but there’s been guys that you get tired of voting for,” Rivers told reporters, per The Athletic’s Eric Nehm on March 2. “Michael may be the poster child of that. And Giannis seems to be in that category where you’re so good, everything you do is taken for granted. When you just look at his numbers, they’re incredible, and yet, you never hear his name. It’s unbelievable, but that’s a sign of respect more than disrespect in some ways.”
Antetokounmpo has won two MVPs in 2019 and 2020. Since then, Nikola Jokic has won the award in back-to-back seasons, and then Joel Embiid won it in 2023. What might work in Antetokounmpo’s favor is that it has been several years since he last won the award.