“I Love Charles Barkley but…”: Giannis Antetokounmpo Names Michael Jordan and Other Superstar He’d Pick as a Teammate Over Suns Legend

Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of the most candid athletes in the current-day NBA. He doesn’t shy away from speaking what he feels is right, and we saw the same happen on his YouTube channel. The Greek Freak uploaded a fan Q&A video which had a question asking him to pick an NBA legend to team up with for a Christmas game. Unfortunately, despite being a part of the question prompt, Charles Barkley did not make the cut.

Talking to his fans, Giannis Antetokounmpo answered the question very candidly. He said,

“First of all, I love Charles Barkley. He’s one of the GOATs, one of the greatest players to ever play this game.”

However, Giannis was not willing to use his one pick on the Suns legend. Instead, The Greek Freak played it safe and went with the GOAT.

“I have to pick Michael Jordan. If I could be teammates with Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant…”

Giannis talked about how it would be a great honor to share the court with Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant. I mean, he isn’t even a tad bit wrong, either with his pick or the part about it being an honor. If we ask anyone to pick an NBA player, current or former, as their teammate, there is a good chance they’d pick MJ or Kobe. The two of them are two of the greatest to every step foot on a basketball court. While Charles Barkley is an all-time great, the chance anyone would pick him over MJ or Kobe is rare.

Giannis Antetokounmpo once named Starting 5s for Team USA vs Team World

Back in 2022, Giannis Antetokounmpo went on Serge Ibaka’s How Hungry Are You? There, Serge asked Giannis a ton of questions related to basketball as well as life. He was asked whether he was the face of the league, to which he declined and talked about how LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant are still playing.

Not long after, Giannis was asked to name the best starting 5s from USA and International players. Starting off with International players, he picked Joel Embiid(5), Nikola Jokic(4), himself(3), Evan Fourier(2), and Luka Doncic at the 1. For USA, Giannis picked Stephen Curry(1), Klay Thompson(2), LeBron James(3), Kevin Durant(4), and Bam Adebayo at the 5.

Giannis picked the international players to win, posing questions about who’d guard Embiid, Jokic, and himself. He does make a valid point. Stopping these 3 big men has not been easy. On top of that, if you add Luka Doncic, then you get 4 of the Top 5 candidates from the MVP ladder.

However, Team USA would have incredible chemistry, and sometimes, chemistry can play a much bigger role than just big names stacked together(*cough* Brooklyn Nets *cough*).