Isiah Thomas has joined in to discuss whether Giannis Antetokounmpo could be as good in the 80s and 90s.
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Even before he turned 27, the Greek International won almost all individual honors and team rewards there are in the NBA and already booked his place to go into the Naismith Hall of Fame as a First Ballot entry for when it’s all said and done.
Since then, there are talks going on about if Antetokounmpo would be as dominant in the previous eras as he is currently. That’s the way it is. In any sport, once you start your ascendence as a great payer people start comparing you to the all-time greats.
But when the game’s legends themselves come out and bring it up, the discussion generally becomes a national sports media debate.
One such argument came up recently when Charles Oakley came out on a SLAM Magazine podcast and said that Giannis would have come off the bench if he played in Knicks legend’s era of the late 1980s and throughout the ’90s.
But then one of the greatest players of that era came forward and said Giannis would be making rounds on all the players in that era.
Isiah Thomas puts Charles Oakley in his place for his take on Giannis Antetokounmpo
As Giannis Antetokounmpo and Co put on a show Monday night against the Charlotte Hornets with a 130-106 win and the Greek Freak filled the scoresheet with 26 points, 16 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 blocks, and 2 steals, Zeke was quick to get on the praise train of the Bucks MVP.
“Giannis going around Oakley, Giannis going around all them,” Thomas said on being asked if Giannis would win the MVP in the 80s and the 90s.
“He dunkin’ on them. He bigger, he faster, he stronger. You can talk all that stuff ’cause you don’t play anymore. You can talk all that stuff ’cause you got gray hair and you sitting on the sidelines, smoking cigars about what you used to do. That dude will dog you ever single time y’all step on the court. You may hit him hard. Okay. Aight. After you hit him hard, you ain’t got no game. You ain’t got no game.”
Although Oakley played most of his career as an enforcer first alongside Michael Jordan in the Bulls then with Patrick Ewing and the Knicks, Giannis will put up the man’s career-high numbers from any of his years while sleep-walking.
“He’d be dunkin’ on all them. All y’all stop it with ‘he wouldn’t dominate in the 80s.’ We ain’t never seen no dude like this come into our league. And give him his props, give him his credit. He would dog anybody in the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and 3020 when we get there.” Thomas finished with his not-so-famous grin.
It’s pretty apparent that why Oakley has started coming up with all these big takes all of a sudden. It all started just before the release of his book “The Last Enforcer” last month.
It shouldn’t surprise anybody if he starts speaking like Scottie Pippen all of a sudden and criticizes the HOFs he has played with. Oh, wait! He has done it already.
