NBA – “I forbade him to draft Giannis Antetokounmpo. We wanted someone who…

Milwaukee Bucks NBA superstar Giannis AntetokounmpoNBA

For more than ten years now, Giannis Antetokounmpo has been in the heyday of Milwaukee and that should not change soon unless there is an earthquake. But the superstar interior almost played in a completely different team on the night of his draft… A GM was eager to select him, before his owner vetoed him clearly and clearly.

These days, it’s impossible not to talk about the Bucks without mentioning Giannis Antetokounmpo.

What could be more normal since in a decade, the Greek interior has become the best player in the history of the franchise, without dispute. NBA champion, double MVP, Defender of the Year and even MIP, the superstar has won absolutely everything with his always team while he is now in his 11th season.

Wisconsin leaders can clearly congratulate themselves on having had a keen eye in 2013, when they selected him in 15th position in the draft.

A vintage that subsequently became legendary, but largely due to the astronomical number of busts present in the Top 10. Anthony Bennett, first pick that year, is even considered one of the biggest flops of all time …the opposite of Giannis, in itself.

If today it seems obvious that the person concerned should have gone to the Cavaliers with the first choice, the truth was quite different at the time.

The Alphabet had just come out of the Greek championship when he entered the draft and was still only 18 years old. He was certainly a potential physical phenomenon, but he was still very thin and didn’t have many weapons in his technical repertoire. A long-term bet, therefore.

The Mavs are all about Giannis in 2013… except Mark Cuban

If many teams therefore passed on him, some were already convinced by his potential. Having just been promoted to GM at the Raptors, Masai Ujiri notably declared that he did not see many nuggets being better than Giannis within two years.

In Dallas, we also hoped to be able to select him and we even had the opportunity… except that Mark Cuban canceled everything, as he later admitted:

It was me (who forbade him to be drafted). Donnie Nelson was like, “Okay, I’m putting my you-know-whats on the table.

He was doing the dance of Sam Cassell and Nick Van Exel. And I said, “Donnie, we have a plan. » Because even though the Greek Freak turned out to be a good player, he was still a project to re-evaluate in three years, and we wanted to try to find someone who could help us reach the top right away. This is not what happened, but this is what is happening.

As a reminder, Donnie Nelson is not just anyone since, along with his father, the legendary coach Don Nelson, the former GM of the Mavericks had notably attracted a certain Dirk Nowitzki into their nets.

He therefore knew very well about international players… but the big Texan boss had other projects in mind. Instead, it was Shane Larkin who arrived on site, without much success.

Ultimately, the Bucks will have become champions before the Mavs thanks to this 2013 draft and the selection of Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Mark Cuban must surely be ruminating a little on this mistake but on the other hand, he can today count on Luka Doncic to lead the franchise. It’s not that bad either.