Milwaukee Bucks: Meet the 2010s All-Decades Team

Milwaukee Bucks: Meet the 2010s All-Decade Team – Giannis Antetokounmpo

Seven years ago, the Bucks took a chance on a scrawny, long-limbed 18-year-old teenager playing in the second division in Greece. Little did they and Giannis Antetokounmpo know it would change the direction of both parties for the better immeasurably.

Having arrived to Milwaukee both Greek and growing, Antetokounmpo’s entry into the franchise coincided with the worst season in the Bucks’ 52-year existence. The nadir of the Bucks’ chase for short-sighted playoff berths gave Antetokounmpo the ideal runway to display his early flashes of brilliance and eventually land on the All-Rookie Second Team for the 2013-14 season.

Eventually, those flashes of brilliance became the bedrock to Antetokounmpo’s wide-ranging talents and by sharpening his skills with his insatiable work ethic, it all set him on a track towards international superstardom. Antetokounmpo became an All-Star by the age of 22, was named the Most Improved Player as well as earned his first All-NBA selection in 2016-17 and earned his first Most Valuable Player award at 24 years old for the 2018-19 campaign.

Despite just being seven years into his NBA career, Antetokounmpo’s name is rising fast up in the team’s record books, whether it’s ranking seventh in total points scored (10,435), second in rebounds (4,627), third in blocks (684) and sixth in assists (2,250). And Antetokounmpo is currently the most efficient player in Bucks history by true shooting percentage measures at 59.4 percent.

When former Bucks general manager John Hammond was asked by Sean Deveney of the Sporting News whether he foresaw Antetokounmpo’s stunning rise when he selected him 15th overall in the 2013 NBA Draft, Hammond admitted that it was beyond his wildest dreams:

"“No,” Hammond said. “When we first saw him, Jeff (Weltman) and I, we thought that he was a player who had a great feel for the game, with great size and length. He was playing point guard at that time for his team. You could see he could handle it, he was a good decision-maker, and he knew how to play. But I wish I could say we knew he was going to be an All-Star at 22 years old. I wish we had known he was going to be this, but I don’t proclaim to be that smart.”"

As all Bucks fans have gotten accustomed to, there are a very few players like Antetokounmpo in the history of the game. And it will only be a matter of time until his name is right alongside some of the very best to ever play the game of basketball and the NBA at large.

In his 522 appearances with the Bucks, Antetokounmpo has averaged 20 points on a .525/.285/.724 slash line, 8.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.2 steals across 32.5 minutes per game.