Once the 2025-26 NBA season begins, you could pretty much pencil Giannis Antetokounmpo to average 30 points while filling the rest of the stat sheet. The two-time MVP is simply one of the most dominant forces the NBA has ever seen, which is it would only make sense that his home nation of Greece would be among the top international teams. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case and NBA insider Tim McMahon knows why.
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In the 2024-25 season, Antetokounmpo averaged 30.4 points while finishing third in MVP voting. The Milwaukee Bucks superstar has, however, struggled to find that same level of success playing for Greece.
Antetokounmpo has played in two friendly matches ahead of the 2025 EuroBasket. The 6-foot-11 forward led Greece to a 104-86 victory over Latvia, while finishing with 25 points. But in their next game against France, they were able to neutralize the nine-time All-Star.
France dominated en route to a 92-77 victory over Greece as Antetokounmpo was held to just 20 points on the night. That is an off-game by every metric for the ‘Greek Freak’. His performance led to a conversation between Brian Windhorst, Tim Bontemps and Tim McMahon regarding the inability to dominate in international play. They believe the answer is quite simple.
“The international game is tough on Giannis,” said Windhorst on The Hoop Collective. “They can just beat the hell out of him and they just flop incessantly in front of him.”
The level of physicality allowed in international play is one of the biggest differences from the NBA. Team USA’s roster for the 2023 FIBA World Cup learned about the discrepancy the hard way. The types of calls from foul baiting or minimal contact in the NBA don’t exist in FIBA.
Antetokounmpo uses his strength to overpower his opponents in the NBA. Now, international teams always play with more physicality, which can throw the Greek star off his game. It doesn’t help that that style of play also restricts him against stronger opponents, at least in comparison to the league.
“The spacing is completely different with that lane and that style of play,” McMahon proclaimed. While speaking, McMahom remembered a key quote from Luka Doncic, which can explain Antetokounmpo’s struggles.
“In Luka’s rookie year, he said something about how much easier it is to score in the NBA than in Europe. People tried to make it a thing that he was taking a shot at NBA defense. All he was saying is that the spacing is completely different and much more open in the NBA. That obviously makes it a lot tougher on Giannis, who’s the best downhill attacker in the world,” McMahon said.
It’s not the just the international teams either. Back during the 2019 NBA playoffs, the Toronto Raptors proved that the one way to stop Antetokounmpo was to form a wall. However, that roster had the necessary components for that defensive scheme to fully flourish under the NBA’s rules. European teams can adopt that philosophy even if they don’t have the best defenders, since the physical play substitutes.
McMahon and Windhorst aren’t ruling out the possibility that Antetokounmpo could thrive in the EuroBasket. It would be asinine to doubt one of the greatest players of all time but the harsh reality is that the path isn’t simply as linear as it is in the NBA.
