Giannis Antetokounmpo doesn’t believe he alone is the face of the NBA, and he’s right

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Giannis Antetokounmpo believes he’s one of the faces of the NBA. But the man who has as many individual awards as anyone the past five years doesn’t believe he’s alone in holding that title.

The subject was broached during Antetokounmpo’s appearance on teammate Serge Ibaka’s YouTube show How hungry are you? And while he made it clear he doesn’t want to be the face of the NBA, he admitted to holding that title with a few other players.

“LeBron is still playing. … Steph just won a championship. KD is still hooping. Embiid is killing it. Jokic, back-to-back MVP. Luka magic. It’s a lot of people out there,” Antetokounmpo said.

And you know what? He’s right.

If there was one player with the most claim to the face of the league title right now, it’d probably be Antetokounmpo. He has MVPs, a championship and a Defensive Player of the Year award all within the last few years. But there’s just way too much talent in the NBA for there to be one true face.

And that’s been the case maybe since the Michael Jordan era. Sure, you could made a case for players like Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. But there was so much overlap between them alone, not to mention other great players of their eras, that it’s hard to say there was one face.

Antetokounmpo didn’t even mention players still ascending like Ja Morant, Jayson Tatum and Zion Williamson. Oh, and he warned that Victor Wembanyama is going to be a problem too.

So he’s right. He’s not the face of the league. But I’m glad he admitted to being one of them, because he absolutely is. And once James, Durant and Curry are done, he’ll probably be the last one standing to pass that title along to the next batch of NBA superstars.

In our weekly dose of Nets news, players on the team have apparently grown frustrated with Ben Simmons and what they perceive to be a lack of passion from the point-forward.

According to a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania, those feelings stem from both Simmons’ performance on the floor but also the games he’s missed due to injuries.

Given his recent history, it’s understandable how people might arrive at a place to question his desire to play. That doesn’t make it right, as my colleague Sykes wrote, but there’s only one thing Simmons can do to change that perception.

“It’s not really fair to question Simmons’ ‘passion’ for the game here. He’s legitimately injured and team officials see that. He did have back surgery. He does have a bad knee. Those are not fabricated things.

At the same time, it’s understandable why some might question him. His past with the 76ers informs everyone’s present-day perception of him. Based on that, it’s easy to see how someone could question Simmons.

The Nets’ maligned point forward explained he was well aware of this in Charania’s piece, saying that there’s ‘only so much I can really do’ to change his teammates’ perception of him. He’s right — the only thing that can change that is playing well and winning.”

He played better on Tuesday, so that’s a start. Now only if Brooklyn can figure out the winning part.

Shootaround

— Steve Kerr admits this may be the final year of the Warriors title core

— Kevin Durant revealed the real reason behind his trade request

— Someone threw a paper plane on the court in the middle of Mavs-Clippers

— We really hope Shaq’s theory about two moons is a joke

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