It’s hard to blame Magic Johnson, really. Giannis Antetokounmpo is just so hard not to compliment.
The NBA had no problem blaming Johnson, though, for his recent comments in an ESPN interview lavishing praise on the Bucks’ superstar. The league fined the Los Angeles Lakers $50,000 on Tuesday for violating its suddenly super-strictly enforced anti-tampering rule, after the organization's garrulous president of basketball operations was once again guilty of talking about a player under contract with another team.
Johnson, a Basketball Hall of Famer and one of the greatest players in the sport’s history – a tall, prodigiously talented point guard to whom the playmaking, 6-foot-11 Antetokounmpo has been compared – said he could see the similarities in their games and, perhaps problematically, added that Giannis would eventually lead the Bucks to a championship.
"Oh yeah," Johnson told ESPN when asked if he saw parallels between Antetokounmpo's play and his. "With his ball-handling skills and his passing ability. He plays above the rim; I never could do that. But in his understanding of the game, his basketball IQ, his creativity of shots for his teammates ... that's where we [have the] same thing. Can bring it down, make a pass, make a play.
"I'm just happy he's starting in the All-Star game because he deserves that. And he's going to be like an MVP, a champion. This dude, he's going to put Milwaukee on the map. And I think he's going to bring them a championship one day."
Aw, Magic! That’s really nice! So nice, in fact, that the Milwaukee Bucks – like the Lakers, a member team in the National Basketball Association – shared Johnson’s words on their social media platforms.
Unfortunately, despite the NBA’s (mostly successful) attempts to be the fun, cool, drama-filled league we all love more than the NFL, it also has rules and, in the case of this particular rule, even though his comments hardly feel devious, Johnson should know better. The Lakers received a $500,000 tampering fine back in August, following a league investigation that found the team had expressed prohibited interest – through public and private communications from Johnson and Los Angeles general manager Rob Pelinka – in then-Pacers star Paul George, who was later traded to Oklahoma City.
That $500,000 fine was hefty and clearly meant to serve notice to Johnson and the Lakers, who were rumored to be pursuing George, to stop talking to or about other team’s contracted players. The fine for the Antetokounmpo comments – one-tenth the amount, for an obviously lesser offense – seems to be more of a reminder that, hey, c’mon guys, quit tampering. Sorry, Magic.
In any event, we here at OnMilwaukee are not subject to any such rules, nor are you Greek Freak fans, so feel free to read all of these stories about how much we love Giannis.
Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.
After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.
Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.
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