Ranking Giannis Antetokounmpo’s best, most memorable non-basketball clips

2. Gotta Love Those (Chich-Fil-A) Nuggets

Equal parts funny, kind, and savage: the Giannis Antetokounmpo story. Frankly, I think the celebrations are the best thing we get from the NBA Finals. Nikola Jokic’s seeming disinterest in celebrating to begin with? My guy really won an NBA championship and treated it like he won a coupon for Bed Bath & Beyond. And remember J.R. Smith going shirtless all around Cleveland? It’s tremendous content. 

And of course, Giannis delivered his own unique post-championship moment with an Instagram live of him ordering fifty (50!) chicken nuggets. No more, no less, in honor of his finals-sealing, 50-point performance against the Suns. Even if you were a Suns believer — or more devastatingly, in my case, a Chris Paul stan — you couldn’t help but chuckle. 

1. A Rant About Failure

The top spot, true believers, goes to a not-so-funny, hot-button, discourse-igniting press conference in which Giannis was taken aback by the idea of the Bucks playoff loss being considered a failure. Not that the Bucks lost, per se, but more specifically the usage of the term “failure” to describe the end result. It’s a bit of a litmus test for how you choose to consume sports as well as, potentially, a microcosm for the mindset professional athletes has. 

Many jumped on him for trying to brush aside the tremendously disappointing playoff loss for a championship-caliber team, while some (including Nike) seized the moment as one that fit a mold of motivation. Those who followed in the thinking of the former, I often found to be rather pedantic — as if what mattered most was if Giannis was improperly using the word “failure” — and ignorant of the main point trying to be made, even if it was an extreme example. 

Was the loss to Miami technically a failure? Sure. But I choose to view it as more of a gentle reminder of how to approach life in a healthy way, even if it’s a bit trite, rather than scrutinize definitions. And maybe that’s how we should always view the Giannis Antetokounmpo experience: one of a champion, miracle of nature, and silly goose that showcases every side of humanity all in one.