Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said he believes Celtics star and reigning Finals MVP Jaylen Brown is the best player in the NBA.

Jaylen Brown earned the NBA Finals MVP award after the Boston Celtics steamrolled the Dallas Mavericks to win the championship, but hardly anyone has begun calling Brown the league’s best player. But Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, often in consideration for that title himself, said he thinks Brown is the NBA’s top player at the moment.

Milwaukee Bucks player Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston Celtics player Jaylen Brown

Throughout his career, Antetokounmpo has sidestepped labels that would indicate his status as the best player in the NBA. When he won MVP, an award he earned in 2019 and 2020, Antetokounmpo said that no one should call him MVP until he wins a championship. And when he led the Bucks to their first title in 50 years in 2021, Antetokounmpo asked fans not to call him MVP until he won another title.

That hasn’t happened yet, but after the Celtics’ dominant run to a ring, Antetokounmpo has named Brown the best player in the league.

“I feel like the best player is the guy that wins a championship, wins it all, and [is] the best player on his team,” Antetokounmpo said, via Complex Sports. “So the best player in the NBA, probably, I would say Jaylen Brown. Because you cannot say you’re the best player if you’re on a team who didn’t win. It doesn’t matter if you got the MVP or you’re All-NBA. If you don’t make your team win, you’re not the best.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo doubles down on NBA’s ‘best player’ argument

Eastern Conference forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) of the Milwaukee Bucks defends Western Conference forward LeBron James (23) of the Los Angeles Lakers during the first quarter in the 73rd NBA All Star game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

© Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Although Antetokounmpo may get flak for the choice, considering the presence of Nikola Jokic, whose Denver Nuggets won the title in 2023 and has won three of the last four MVPs, the ‘Greek Freak’ has maintained relatively consistent in recent years on the topic.

Going into the 2022-23 season, Antetokounmpo said that the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry, who had just led his team to a fourth title in eight years and earned his first Finals MVP honor, was the best player in the NBA at that time.

NBACentral] Giannis Antetokounmpo says Jaylen Brown is the best player in the NBA “I feel like the best player is the guy that wins the championship, wins it all, and is the

“I think the best player in the world is the person that is the last one standing, the person that takes his team to the finish line and helps them win games and become champion,” Antetokounmpo said at Bucks media day in 2022.

“Two years ago when we did that, yeah, when I was sleeping in my bed, I was like, ‘Ah yeah, maybe I’m the best player in the world.’ But now, no. In my opinion, the way I view it, the winner is the best. The guy who wins is the best. I believe that the best player in the world is Steph Curry until the next player [wins].”