When looking at the two players just using the eye test, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant look eerily similar.
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Yes, the biggest thing that people are going to point out is that Antetokounmpo isn’t nearly as good of a shooter as Durant is from behind the three-point line. However, his stroke isn’t broken, and he has slowly been improving and actually looking to take more of those shots.
Where a lot of the similarities stem from is their body types. Both players are long, lanky forwards who are terrors running the floor and true mismatches at whichever spot they play.
At this point, both players have proven themselves to be more comfortable playing at small forward, as they have a lot of perimeter ball skills and not quite enough size and strength to play full-time in the post.
The jump shot is more Durant’s weapon, but Antetokounmpo may be a better ball-handler than Durant, which is something to take notice of especially since he’s only been in the NBA for two years compared to Durant who’s a true veteran.
Antetokounmpo’s ball-handling is a real problem for any big man trying to guard him. If Antetokounmpo gets into trouble trying to face his back towards the basket or play inside the arc, he can pull off a move or two and make his way around the defense and to the rim with either a finish or a drawn foul.
In transition, Antetokounmpo is more than capable of pushing the ball up the floor and initiating the offense, be it getting the ball where it needs to go on an alley-oop attempt or slowing things down and running a play in the halfcourt.
That’s another problem for bigger players trying to guard him because not a lot of power forwards and centers have the speed and athleticism to keep up with him every possession down the floor.
For guards and perimeter players, Antetokounmpo is a nightmare, as he really is a point forward and loves to play on both ends. Offensively, his length is enough for him to be able to get a shot off anytime he wants, similar to Durant who rarely has his shot blocked from outside.
Defensively, he can prey on smaller players and look for steals by either getting up in their face and taking the ball from them or by playing the passing lanes and using his wingspan to create a deflection on either side.
Now Durant has been a similar player throughout his career because of his athletic gifts, but his calling is scoring the basketball. Durant has never been a play-maker or great defender because that’s not where his focus is and quite frankly he hasn’t had to be that kind of guy for the Thunder.
Oklahoma City has had success on the defensive end of the floor because of the other players around Durant, meaning that he’s had some room to slack there and in turn put his energy towards getting shots at the other end of the floor.
Milwaukee on the other hand isn’t nearly as talented of a team, meaning that Antetokounmpo has had to do more through his short time in the league, although the Bucks are rapidly improving on defense.
How does that improvement help Antetokounmpo? If the rest of the team can become better on defense, then he could be free to focus more of his attention on offense just like Durant has been able to do, which means he could get the same kind of reps and have similar growth with his jump shot and other elements of his scoring arsenal.
Antetokounmpo will always be a special player on defense because of his physical attributes and his love for playing on that end of the floor, but being able to have some breathing room there in order to grow his offensive game certainly wouldn’t hurt his development as a well-rounded player.
Behind the Buck Pass
In fact, Antetokounmpo already is a very solid all-around player, and it’s only his second year. From scoring to playmaking to rebounding to playing defense, he’s had experience doing everything, and if he can improve his points per game numbers and really help his team get more baskets, then the Bucks could really take off in the Eastern Conference.
It’s not that Antetokounmpo doesn’t know how to score, as he’s shooting near 50 percent from the field this season, but he only averages 9.5 field goal attempts per game, a number that falls extremely short of someone like Durant’s shot total.
If Antetokounmpo can ever take on the challenge of a scorer’s mentality and look to generate more of his own offense for the Bucks, then he could really be a scary player down the road.
Is Antetokounmpo the next Durant? He may very well not be. Because of his all-around game and efficiency at this point in his career, he could be even more impactful.
The next great athletic freak on the perimeter is here. Antetokounmpo will be making his mark on this league for a long time.
*Statistics courtesy of Basketball-Reference.
Next: Milwaukee Bucks: A Juggernaut in the Making
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