NBA fans and analysts alike seem to find it odd that Giannis Antetokounmpo gets shown no love on social media when he has great games.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been having a Finals for the ages as he’s averaging 32 points through 5 games while shooting a ridiculous 61% from the field. He’s also been gobbling up 13 rebounds a game and dishing out nearly 6 assists en route to taking a commanding 3-2 series lead over the Suns following a thrilling Game 5 victory in Phoenix.
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While social media continues to rave about how incredible Giannis has been, not just in the Finals but, throughout the Playoffs, fans have been noticing a lack of support for the ‘Greek Freak’. This lack of support comes from NBA superstars all across the league who have uncharacteristically been quiet every time Giannis has a good game or when the Bucks win.
Chris Vernon of the Mismatch called out the league’s stars for not showing any love towards the 2x MVP while fans online have been throwing around much stronger words.
NBA analysts and fans believe league stars are being xenophobic towards Giannis.
Merely a couple stars, most prominently Damian Lillard, have shown any sort of love towards Giannis during these Playoffs and NBA Finals. Dame sent out a tweet claiming the block he had in Game on Ayton was one of the greatest he’d ever seen. It was refreshing to see at least one NBA star appreciate the 2020 DPOY.
That block by Giannis might have won them the game
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) July 15, 2021
Fans online have started to wonder if whether or not superstars within the league are being xenophobic towards the Greek native. Perhaps a difference in culture and upbringing are factors that have contributed to the lack of love shown to him.
I guess what’s weird to me is I can’t think of a single tweet from a NBA player about Giannis’ great games in these Finals but I know there’s tweets about CP3 going off, about Book going off, about KD going off, etc.
— Anthony Doyle (@Anthonysmdoyle) July 18, 2021
Xenophobia amongst NBA superstars may be a harsh term to use but looking back at NBA Twitter’s landscape during the 2021 Playoffs, a trend has been followed. Even when guys like Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic went off for their stellar games, social media wasn’t nearly as loud as when, say, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, or Ja Morant dropped 40 or 50 bombs.
Perhaps Giannis has yet to make solid connections with players in the league or maybe he’s just not well-liked within NBA circles. Hopefully, the latter isn’t the case because he seems to be an incredibly genuine and humble player for merely 26 years of age.
