Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo revealed how Damian Lillard’s locker-room presence alone has pushed him to work even harder on his game.
The Milwaukee Bucks traded for Damian Lillard with the primary intention of maximizing their title-contending window with Giannis Antetokounmpo, essentially convincing him to stay in light of the statements he’s made all offseason long. The duo of Lillard and Antetokounmpo figures to give opposing defenses an unsolvable conundrum given how strong The Greek Freak is near the rim and how Lillard bends defenses to his will with his game-breaking three-point range.
But it appears as though Lillard’s impact on Antetokounmpo and the Bucks will stretch far beyond how he’ll improve the team from an on-court perspective. Speaking to Brian Scalabrine of SiriusXM NBA Radio, Antetokounmpo revealed how Lillard’s locker-room presence alone has pushed him to work even harder on his game.
“I’ll be very honest with you, Brian, I feel like I’m way more locked in. You know, I have to be on point. Because when you have a guy like Dame next to you, you cannot not be on point,” Antetokounmpo said.
Simply put, having a player of a similar caliber — a multiple-time All-Star, a player who has experience being “the guy” on his team, and an All-NBA talent — just pushes superstars to even greater heights. As the old adage goes, “iron sharpens iron”. Knowing how tough it is to compete for a championship, superstars have the talent and work ethic necessary to hold each other accountable and back their words accordingly.
“You see, so we feed through one another. He expects a level from me. So I have to give my best and be on that level every single day that I’m next to him. And I expect a level from him. […] But at the end of the day, I feel like people like Dame bring the best out of you. Especially because he’s very competitive,” Antetokounmpo added.
Just three years after the Bucks won it all, will Damian Lillard be the last piece in their quest for another championship? Perhaps. The oddsmakers, at least, believe this. However, living up to expectations is difficult, and for the time being, it appears as though the Bucks will have little issue mustering the collective effort required to contend for a championship.