“Giannis trained with the mentality of ‘I’m gonna be the new Shaq'”: Former teammate Jared Dudley reminisces about the Bucks superstar’s early NBA days

Former Bucks forward Jared Dudley talks about Giannis Antetokounmpo’s desire to be like Shaquille O’ Neal.

There is no doubt that Giannis is a generational player. The Greek Freak’s ability to dominate in the paint is unlike what we have seen since Shaq’s time.

The 2x MVP is having a great post-season this year, averaging 29.2 PPG, 12.8 RPG, 5.3 APG, 1.1 SPG, and 1.0 BPG on a 56.5% shooting from the field.

Giannis, who had often been accused of not being able to replicate his regular-season success in the playoffs, has silenced all his critics with his impressive post-season performance this year.

The Bucks are currently only a win away from being crowned NBA champions since 1971. It would not be wrong to say that Giannis had played a major role in this, despite having a hyperextended knee during the ECF that kept him out for the last two games of those finals. Giannis has taken the reigns of his team

Also read: “LeBron James played his first Finals in 2007… I wasn’t even playing ball then”: Giannis Antetokounmpo describes the experience of having Lakers star courtside for NBA Finals Game 5

Recently, while appearing as a guest on JJ Reddick’s The Old Man & The Three podcast, former Bucks forward spoke about how Giannis exceeded his expectations and surprised him as a player.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the modern-day version of Shaquille O’ Neal

Lakers forward Jared Dudley feels Giannis is a physical specimen. The Bucks superstar had some great moments recently in the 2021 NBA Finals, which even resulted in the Bucks winning some games.

Giannis’ block on Deandre Ayton in Game Four is in contention, with LeBron James’ block in the 2016 NBA finals as the best block in Finals history. This was followed by one of the best plays in recent times that had Jrue Holiday throw an alley-oop to Giannis that resulted in a dunk, which gave the Bucks a lead in the clutch time.

The Greek Freak became one of the few players in history to have a back-to-back 40-point double-double in the Finals history.

Shaquille O’ Neal has on various occasions has heaped praises for the Milwaukee superstar. The Lakers legend even gave his nickname superman to the Greek Freak.

During the JJ Redick podcast, Dudley even spoke about how former Bucks coach Jason Kid played a major role in shaping Giannis as a player.

Also read: ‘Giannis Antetokounmpo about to end LeBron James’ run as NBAs best player’: Nick Wright explains why Lakers star is about to be dethroned by the 2 time MVP

Giannis’ comparison to Shaq doesn’t seem inappropriate because both had similar stats in their prime years. There has been no player as dominant as Giannis in the paint since Big diesel retired. An interesting observation here is also both the big men are poor free-throw shooters.