Kristian Winfield: Giannis Antetokounmpo took a shot at James Harden without mentioning him
NEW YORK — Oh no he didn’t.
Well, actually, he did.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is an NBA champion, and after winning his first NBA title, he took a moment to recognize his haters. His most notable hater is Nets star James Harden, who almost certainly was the target of Antetokounmpo’s postgame comments.
“It’s easy to go somewhere and go win a championship with somebody else; it’s easy,” Antetokounmpo said after the Bucks defeated the Suns in Game 6. “I don’t want to put anybody on the spot, but I could go to a superteam and just do my part and win a championship, but this is the hard way to do it, and we did it. We f------ did it. We did it, man.”
Antetokounmpo didn’t need to say a name. We all know who he’s talking about.
Sure, he could have been talking about LeBron James or Kevin Durant, each of whom left the teams that drafted them to win a championship elsewhere (in James’ case, Miami; in Durant’s, Golden State). But Harden most recently forced a trade out of Houston to join Durant and Kyrie Irving and form a superteam in Brooklyn.
Antetokounmpo’s Bucks eliminated the Nets in seven games in the second round of the playoffs. Even though Irving missed the final three games with a severe ankle sprain and Harden returned from and played through a significant hamstring strain once Irving went down, it must sting losing to the eventual NBA champions knowing you were one or two plays or shots shy of being in their place.
And it must sting for Harden, even just a little, for Antetokounmpo to hoist an NBA Finals trophy first, especially given how critical he’s been of Antetokounmpo’s game in the past, particularly after The Greek Freak won two consecutive MVP awards that Harden felt he’d earned outright.
Antetokounmpo joked ahead of the 2020 NBA All-Star Game that he drafted Kemba Walker over Harden because he wanted someone on his team who can pass.
“I wish I could be seven feet, run and just dunk; that takes no skill at all,” Harden responded. “I’ve got to actually learn how to play basketball. How to have skill. I’ll take that any day.”
Here are the facts: Antetokounmpo owns two MVP awards to Harden’s one. He owns an NBA title and an NBA Finals MVP. Harden owns neither, and it’ll be tough for him to earn a Finals MVP on a Durant-led team, though we’ve seen something similar happen in the past, specifically when Andre Iguodala won Finals MVP on a Warriors team led by Stephen Curry.
Both Antetokounmpo and Harden are filthy rich and highly-decorated and accomplished NBA players. But the player Harden said has “no skill” now has an NBA championship.
He’s talking smack about it, too, and the only acceptable response will be on the court next season.
