Giannis Sina Ugo Antetokounmpo is Still the Best Player in the World

[Professor Emeritus]

I mean we gotta consider rosters and talent too... 88 Bulls minus MJ was trash and Pippen was just a rook. Same wit 06 and 07 Lakers minus Kobe. They had Odom who was good but missed 30 games in 07 and then arguably the worst roster in the league behind em 2. LA was projected to be a .500 team and wasn't even in anywhere near title convos in 07 because of how bad roster was. Even 07 Clippers had better title odds. 88 Bulls wasn't expected to do shyt either.

Giannis had 2 star level players in Jrue (or Dame this season) and Middleton, a top 10 center who is one of the best shooting bigs and been in DPOY convos was even runnerup last season. Then some great role players like Bobby, Grayson, Connaughton, Beasley... It not the same situation in any way to 88 MJ or 07 Kobe who wasn't expected to do shyt wit they trash rosters but Giannis in this 3 year span was a top title favorite wit great talent around him.

If you're going to complain about rosters for those guys, then Giannis gets to bring up injuries and quality of competition too. Middleton was out in 2022 (facing the Finals team), Giannis missed half the series in 2023 (facing the Finals team again), and then Giannis was out completely in 2024.

You can't just say, "You can't be the best player if you've only won one playoff series recently!", and then cop pleas when we apply the same standard to other players.