“I can teach you how to carry your own team”

Did Giannis Antetokounmpo open a can of worms on Kevin Durant on live television?

It was a scripted segment, but most NBA fans agreed with what Bucks star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo had to say about Kevin Durant.

In his appearance on Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ with host Hasan Minhaj, Antetokounmpo was part of a segment in which he had to read a script in a teleprompter trash-talking fellow NBA superstars, including KD.

The one-time NBA champion called out Durant for joining the Suns to build his own superteam, again. As part of the script, ‘The Greek Freak’ also offered KD to work out with him and learn from him how to win more rings and cement his legacy without having to band together with other superstars.

“You keep joining super teams to win an NBA title. How about we work out together sometime so I can teach you how to carry your own team?”, Giannis said on the show.

He was joking, of course, but what he said is not entirely wrong.

Giannis “talking trash” to Jokic, KD, and Lebron (full clip) 😂 pic.twitter.com/mFApm0UQIn

— sqr (@squaresense) February 28, 2023

Again, this was a scripted segment and ‘The Greek Freak’ didn’t have the intention of impaling KD on live television. After all, Giannis has always been a very humble person and it would be hard to imagine him saying something like this.

Giannis is always focused on his team and how to be better, he usually jokes around, but nothing like this.

Still waiting for my challenge.. @kobebryant

— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) August 24, 2017

Durant’s reputation

I’ll say what everyone’s thinking, what Giannis said on live television is not entirely wrong. Most NBA fans around the world will agree with me. I just fucking know.

Durant requested a trade to the Suns, and while I can’t blame him for wanting to leave the Nets… this is his third try at forming a super team. First time was when he signed with the Warriors and won two NBA championships while playing with Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and a loaded roster.

Then, he joined the Nets, where he recruited Kyrie Irving and James Harden. The Durant, Irving and Harden Big Three didn’t play together much for several reasons, and we all saw how it ended for them (violin player enters the scene).

Now Durant will team up with Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton in a team that played the NBA Finals in 2021 and had the best record in the regular season last year.

How Giannis completed Kobe Bryant’s challenges

Giannis went from selling trinkets on the street, sharing shoes with his brothers, not owning a suit before the NBA Draft, sending so much of his paycheck back home that he couldn’t afford a cab and had to walk to the Bucks arena, to having one of the biggest contracts in NBA history.

“I started playing basketball just to help my family, try to get them out of the struggle. The challenges we were facing when we were kids, but I never thought I’m gonna be 26 years old with my team in the NBA Finals”, Giannis reflected on his life journey back in 2021.

Giannis is the first player in NBA history to win Most Improved Player, MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and NBA Finals MVP… all by the age of 26. Talk about a fucking superstar!

“I’m like, ‘Kobe Bryant thinks I can do this?’… I had to do it.” Giannis on Kobe challenging him to win the MVP award and an NBA Championship.

On August 24, 2017, Giannis wanted Kobe to challenge him: “Still waiting for my challenge.. @kobebryant”

Still waiting for my challenge.. @kobebryant

— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) August 24, 2017

Bryant replied on August 27.

MVP https://t.co/cjmWH5Mqyz

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) August 27, 2017

Once Giannis delivered, Bryant tweeted this on June 24, 2019.

My man….M.V.P. Greatness. 🙌🏾💪🏾 Next up: Championship. #MambaMentality https://t.co/dhZTFI1Aam

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) June 25, 2019

“I could go to a super team… but this is the hard way to do it, and we did it. We f—ing did it”, Giannis on signing his supermax deal to stay in Milwaukee.

Kobe clearly influenced Giannis, while it seems that KD is following LeBron James’ path, forcing his way out of teams when things are hard and teaming up with superstars at each stop to chase rings without putting as much effort to make everything work as loyal players like Giannis, Curry or Damian Lillard do.

Giannis respects KD

Still, Giannis has nothing but love for Durant. After reading the script and trash-talking KD on air, ‘The Greek Freak’ apologized and actually said that he admires Durant as one of the best scorers to ever play the game and that he’s led by example over the years.

Aside from Durant, Giannis also had to trash-talk Nikola Jokic and LeBron. He also showed them respect afterwards.

This fun interview showed a different side of ‘The Greek Freak’ and it was made for jokes and laughs; however, as I said before, the scripted statement about Durant is not wrong. To each their own, if Durant wants to do what LeBron does, good for him, it’s not right or wrong, it’s just not the way Kobe or Giannis would do things.

Personally, I admire those who follow Kobe’s path. #mambamaentality