Giannis Antetokounmpo tempers the hype surrounding his team-up with Damian Lillard

“We haven’t won anything.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo has been in the NBA for a minute now, so he understands how quickly the hype surrounding a team can change. He was there when his Milwaukee Bucks enjoyed the best record in the league last season, only to be let down by their postseason performance.

So, with that context, it's not surprising he isn't buying into all the noise about how good the Bucks will be now that he and Damian Lillard are teammates.

"We haven't won anything," Giannis bluntly said in a talk with Marc J. Spears of Andscape.

Substance over hype

The hype machine was in full effect on Sunday night as the awesome twosome finally made their on-court debut when the Bucks took on the Los Angeles Lakers. Although the Lakers’ stars didn’t dress up, Giannis and Lillard put on a show.

Giannis had 16 points and eight rebounds in 15 minutes, while Lillard added 14 points and three assists in 22 minutes.

“There's going to be a lot of hype around us, but we haven't done anything,” Giannis quipped.

“So, we can talk about it all day, but at the end of the day, our actions speak louder than words. But we have an opportunity to do something great, and that's exciting for me.”

Not yet in the conversation

Giannis is as much a student of the game as he is a star on the court. He's always learning, looking to improve his game and take it to another level. He knows who his contemporaries are and the legends that laid the groundwork for the game today. And while some pundits are already putting his partnership with Lillard up there with the all-time greats, Giannis wants to pause and consider what they can do before doing any sort of comparison.

“Kobe, Shaq, Kareem, Oscar, those [duos] are great,” Antetokounmpo said. “Those are all-time greats. And the reason they're all-time great is because they won. So, if you want to even join the conversation, we have to win. So, right now, we're not in that conversation.”