Giannis Antetokounmpo sparks debate with Kobe Bryant post

Oct 23, 2021; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) warms up before the game against the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports

Giannis Antetokounmpo is doubling down on his recent comments about failure, and now he is bringing in Kobe Bryant into the picture.

The Milwaukee Bucks star Antetokounmpo sparked debate on Wednesday by sharing an edited video comparing his own take on failure to that of the late Los Angeles Lakers legend Bryant. After his top-seeded team got upset in the first round by the No. 8 seed Miami Heat this year, Antetokounmpo took exception to a reporter’s question about whether the season was a failure. Antetokounmpo instead characterized the team’s big playoff disappointment as a step to success.

In his tweet on Wednesday, Antetokounmpo included an old interview clip in which Bryant gave his perspective on failure (cut back and forth with Antetokounmpo’s own comments). Take a look.

It's steps to success. pic.twitter.com/PpVgec57ov

— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) May 10, 2023

For context, here is the full clip of Bryant’s remarks (from a 2017 interview with Jemele Hill).

That context matters since Bryant was talking about not being paralyzed by a fear of failure to the point of it affecting your performance in the moment. Later in the clip, Bryant, when asked by Hill, also said it would have been “extremely disappointing” if he had retired without winning an NBA title. He then said that not learning from his mistakes and not applying the lessons he learned to his future would be what he considers “failing.”

As such, Antetokounmpo’s comparison was not too well-received. Whereas Bryant had a very forward-looking perspective on failure, Antetokounmpo, speaking on the very same night that his team was eliminated, seemed to be looking backwards and almost downplaying the magnitude of Milwaukee’s disappointment this season.

That is not quite what Bryant’s famed “Mamba Mentality” was about. Bryant threw up four straight airballs as a rookie to lose a playoff series to the Utah Jazz in 1997, shot the Lakers out of the 2004 NBA Finals to end a dynasty with Shaquille O’Neal, and got trounced by the hated Boston Celtics by 39 points to lose in the 2008 NBA Finals. Each time, Bryant acknowledged the bitterness and the disappointment of the moment and grew from it. Bryant was also never afraid to call a season “s–t” if it was so warranted.

Additionally, some shared the clip of Bryant speaking after that 2008 Finals loss (a far closer parallel to Antetokounmpo’s press conference) and bluntly admitting that “we failed.”

Why use Kobe in an interview and not Kobes presser right after he lost?pic.twitter.com/QUEEi5Xe46

— Dallas Goedert Stan Account (@Eagles4thDown) May 10, 2023

Antetokounmpo will never be a failure because he already led his team to an NBA title (in 2021). He was also close with Bryant before Bryant’s death in a Jan. 2020 helicopter crash. The two used to work out together, and Bryant once even issued Antetokounmpo a notable public challenge. But despite that, Antetokounmpo’s post this week about Bryant didn’t really hit the mark for too many.

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