Giannis Antetokounmpo has now reached the point in his career where it’s not just good enough to be good. He has to be great and start proving to everyone that he can win and get to the NBA Finals (like Michael Jordan did six times).

After the Milwaukee Bucks were eliminated in the second round of the NBA Playoffs, everything about Giannis was put into question, including his competitive spirit and mentality (although his loyalty remains).

On the Locked On Warriors Podcast, hosts Wes Goldberg and Bram Hillsman explained why Giannis Antetokounmpo has to change his approach if he’s going to become an ultra competitor like Kobe Bryant or Jordan.

Wes Goldberg: The only way I've changed my mind about Giannis through this series is that he's sort of gotten branded ads. It's like next Kobe, Michael Jordan kind of ultra competitor. But MJ and Kobe would have just done what they wanted to do at the end of games and demanded that they be on the court and demand the best player guard the best player. Giannis didn't do that.

Bram Hillsman: So after watching this, here is how my opinion of him has changed. Going into the playoffs. I was 100% positive this guy was not only in the upper echelon of the current league, but in the upper echelon ultimately in history. I don't know where he lands, there's still a lot of basketball to be played.

But just given his skill set, you know, when I was virtually positive, when we look back in 20 years we're talking about him amongst the greats, the top two, top three percent. But the thing that put him into question is what you just put on blast perfectly. It was his mentality. The things that really separates those guys. We're talking top two, top three or four… It's no longer physicality or athleticism, right? I mean, everybody in that conversation already has that.

What we're talking about is mentality, an F—You, I'd prefer to die than lose. And what we saw at the end of the game, when you refuse to guard Butler, but even more than that, when they asked him about it, and he didn't have any fire. You know, he didn't necessarily lash out at the coaching staff or suggest he's going to take this in his own hands. It suggested to me that he might not have that alpha-dog F— everybody mentality. Which isn't a criticism, it probably makes him a better person, but it may impact his overall legacy, if that makes any sense. And it's early, you know, I mean, he’s 25 man, so we're gonna see…