Bucks Zone

Giannis Antetokounmpo is ready to take a backseat to Damian Lillard

Giannis is ready to defer to his new teammate, Damian Lillard.

Jonas Panerio

© Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
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Having several alpha males on an NBA team may look fantastic on paper, but history has shown that making it work can be tricky. Whether it was Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant to the recent Kyrie Irving-Kevin Durant-James Harden trio, there is a delicate balance that must be struck when it comes to managing multiple stars on one team.

The Milwaukee Bucks find themselves in an interesting situation this year with the addition of seven-time All-Star Damian Lillard. The Bucks’ resident star, Giannis Antetokounmpo, though, made it clear how ready he is to hand the reins to Lillard.

No competition between teammates

Even though Giannis has been in the league for a decade now, he sees Lillard as the veteran guard who can lead them back to the promised land. And while he recognizes the significance of having some competition in practice, he emphatically says there is none between him and the seven-time All-NBA player.

“You cannot have—obviously, you have to have friendly competition within your team to try to push one another and to be great and be better prepared for the game—but this is not, in no shape or form, any competition between me and him, who's going to have the ball more. He will have the ball more, and I trust, I believe he's going to find me and not just me, he's going to find our teammates and put us in the right position,” Giannis said in a conversation with Eric Nehm of The Athletic.

Communication is key

Training camp has provided the superstar duo an avenue to get to know one another on the floor. From the way they’ll run the pick-and-roll to the way they’ll look for one another in transition, the Bucks are looking to create a system tailored to their specific talents.

“At the end of the day, for me, whenever we have conversation, I'm always listening, I listen to him. Like he was talking to me today, like, ‘Hey, Giannis, we gotta, boom, boom, boom.' Got you,” Giannis said.

“You know, then we were talking some about the pick-and-roll, how would we run this, and I looked at him, and I said, ‘Whatever way you want it to be run.’ And the one thing that I can say, as a leader and as a teammate, you kind of give that power to the guy. Like, ‘Hey man … you've been here three, four, five days, it doesn't matter. When you get the ball, you put us in a position. We run it the way you want to run it,’” Antetokounmpo concluded.

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Jonas Panerio
JONAS PANERIO