Michael Jordan's Ex-Teammate Says Giannis Antetokounmpo Would Be 'Bench' Player In His Era

An NBA legend has shared his bold take on how Giannis Antetokounmpo would’ve fared in the league back in the day.

Milwaukee Bucks superstar Antetokounmpo is arguably the most dominant player in the NBA today. He gradually learned to maximize his length and size through the years and became an incredibly versatile scorer.

However, Charles Oakley, who played with Michael Jordan in both Chicago and Washington, believes “The Greek Freak” wouldn’t have been among the best during his era. Oakley even reckoned that Antetokounmpo wouldn’t have been able to utilize the so-called “Eurostep” and would have been just a “bench” player back then.

“He [Antetokounmpo] wouldn’t have been a force back in the day,” Oakley said in a recent appearance on Slam’s “No Pump Fakes” podcast. “He would have struggled because they would make him shoot jump shots. He wasn’t gonna be doing those Eurosteps to the basket like he be doing, Eurostep to the basket and just get a layup. No, somebody’s gonna knock his head off.”

“I’m glad he doing what he doing now,” he added. “But he may be coming off the bench back in the day.”

Looking back, it was difficult to score in bunches in the NBA during the '80s and the '90s. At the time, the bigs dominated the league, and scorers had to be exceptionally explosive to get the job done.

In the 2000s, elite scorers such as Kobe Bryant, Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady somehow managed to stand out. However, big men like Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan were still dominant.

Like Oakley, McGrady also thinks Antetokounmpo “would’ve struggled” to penetrate back then because of how tight the defense was inside the paint.

”I think he would have struggled because of how closed up the paint was,” T-Mac recently said of Antetokounmpo on Shaquille O'Neal's podcast. “It was tough offensively because the defense was so great.”

"If you can’t shoot, it’s gonna be hard,” he added. “And Giannis’ game is predicated on coming downhill. It would have been tough to be who he is today, back then.”

Antetokounmpo has tremendously improved his game over time. From averaging 7 points per game during his rookie season, the two-time MVP is now the second-best scorer in the league, racking up a whopping 29.4 points per outing.

However, it’s impossible to tell if Antetokounmpo would have been able to do the same had he played in the NBA two or three decades ago.