“Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t smarter than Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Luka Doncic”: Gilbert Arenas defends his controversial take on the 2-time MVP

On a recent podcast appearance, Gilbert Arenas attacked Giannis Antetokounmpo by stating that the media hypes him up to be the ‘best player in the league’.

Gilbert Arenas was in all headlines after his nasty and illogical comments about Giannis Antetokounmpo went viral on social media. According to Agent 0, the Greek Freak wasn’t as great as the media depicts him to be.

On the “No Chill” Podcast, Giannis, who has a stellar resume including 6 All-Star appearances, 6 All-NBA selections, 2 MVPs, a DPOY, a MIP, 1 championship, and 1 Finals MVP, was criticized by the former Washington Wizards legend.

Giving a rather foolish take, Gilbert stated:

“The media tries to shorten this gap like ‘oh, he’s the best player in the league’. Not even close… I can look at his game and say he doesn’t understand basketball yet. He plays the sport. He won a championship. Cool. He doesn’t really understand how to be great, how to be better, how to train his body.”

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Gilbert Arenas implies that Giannis Antetokounmpo is mentally not among the smartest players in the league

As soon as the 3-time All-Star’s comments went viral, the entire NBA fraternity was fuming. There were several individuals who questioned the former 11-year veteran’s opinions differently.

According to a few, Gilbert made these claims to be ‘relevant’. Goran Dragic was one of many to have these thoughts. Currently playing the 2022 EuroBasket tournament, the Slovenian said:

“Giannis is MVP. Gilbert Arenas, I don’t know, he was ever MVP? I don’t think so, so I think he no talk about Giannis. Giannis won a championship, he won MVP, he’s been the defensive player of the year. Sometimes when they retire, you just want to be relevant and sometimes you come out in the media. It is what it is.”

Receiving backlash on social media, Gilbert decided to give deeper insights as to what he exactly meant by his take. Comparing the Bucks’ forward’s mentality to other superstars’, Gilbert said:

“Let’s go to the mental side. Is he smarter than Chris Paul? Is he smarter than LeBron James? Is he smarter than [Stephen] Curry, Klay [Thompson], Draymond [Green], Kawhi Leonard, [Nikola] Jokic, Luka [Doncic]? If he doesn’t rank number one in that, that’s what I mean.”

Gilbert couldn’t have been any more wrong. Antetokounmpo is not only a great player, but he also possesses a high basketball IQ that has helped him be as dominant as he is.

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