Giannis Antetokounmpo Backs LeBron James After Lakers Star’s ‘Bag’ Soundbite

LeBron James recently hit back at NBA Twitter for characterizing him as a 'bagless' player, and he gets Giannis Antetokounmpo backing him now.

Giannis Antetokounmpo Backs LeBron James After Lakers Star’s ‘Bag’ Soundbite

Giannis, LeBron James (Images via IG)

Talking about LeBron James is the whole basis of the existence of NBA media. It has been so for his whole career, but it is becoming even more so in recent times. After all, there is a power vacuum at the top of the league’s pecking order in terms of drawing power. The likes of Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander all have status and respect for what they do on the court.

But these aforementioned players just don’t draw people in the USA to television screens like James does. King James remains the king of the NBA media’s attention economy, and will probably remain that till he retires. Stephen Curry is an attention center in his own right, but his uncontroversial career leaves less room to manufacture headlines and storylines out of. Curry is universally beloved, if nothing else.

But while hating on LeBron James and downplaying his accomplishments is par for the course, the converse is also true. The NBA media’s attention economy has also prospered by marketing him as the GOAT and giving him undivided positive coverage. As a result, much of the conversation around his game and his career is riddled by a lack of unfettered, true context.

One of these aspects is the talk about his offensive scoring skills. When basketball enthusiasts debate the most skilled scorers of all time, James’ name doesn’t usually come up. This is despite him tallying 50,000 points across regular season, play-in competition and playoff basketball. There are many reasons for this – James has only one scoring title to his name, and has never been one to force the issue as a scorer.

It is clear that not considering him a supremely skilled player at the level of Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant is hardly uncontroversial. This bugs James and those who believe in his GOAT candidature. LeBron James spoke about this treatment from NBA Twitter on a recent episode of the Mind The Game podcast. He also received a vote of confidence and backing from a fellow all-time great in Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The Greek Freak tweeted this in response to the soundbite from James:

If they’re people out there that believe that one of the greatest players to ever be on earth has no bag… Man i’ve seen it all

Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James are cut from the same cloth

The Greek Freak and The King are probably the two most complete athletes to ever play NBA basketball. James came into the league at 6’8″, 240 pounds and grew to 6’9″, 270 pounds during his Miami Heat peak. Giannis Antetokounmpo was a wiry 6’9″ kid when he was drafted at 18, but he’s now the NBA’s most impressive physical specimen, having gained scores of pounds of pure muscle mass.

The two also operate in a similar fashion, although both have principled differences in how they approach scoring. James is likely to curb his shot-taking and stick to getting easy buckets. At the late end of his career, he’s become more of a jump shooter, but he was a vigorous driver at his peak. Antetokounmpo is a much more focused paint player, living off his interior play.

This leaves both of them open to similar critiques. James was chided until recently for not being a natural scorer off jump shots. Antetokounmpo’s status in the game is consistently questioned due to his lack of shooting range. Both of them understand the struggle of the ‘bagless’ label sticking to their names intimately.

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