Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo hasn't had the most injury luck since the 2018-19 season, but despite what Bill Simmons may think, he is far from as unreliable as Joel Embiid. The most games Anetetokoumpo played in a single season since 2018-19 was 73 in the 2023-24 campaign, but he played 430 games over that seven-season span.
Embiid's injury history is well-documented. The most games he played over the same span as Giannis is 68, and his total number of games played is 327. Antetokounmpo has nearly played a season and a half more worth of games than the Philadelphia 76ers' center. Nevertheless, on the most recent Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons compared Antetokounmpo's recent injury struggles to Embiid's.
“[Giannis] is closer to Embiid than Jokic. He doesn't play. He gets hurt all the time. I would be really scared about this,” Simmons stated. “So you're telling me if I'm Miami, I have to trade all my assets and I have to sign you to a 280 million dollar extension for four years, and I don't know if you can play.”
A notable Boston Celtics fan, Simmons could have some ulterior motives when bringing up the issue of teams pushing to add Giannis. Two of the teams most linked to him are the Miami Heat and New York Knicks, who would present some major problems for Simmons' favorite team if they added the superstar.
While the compounding injuries are a bit concerning, given Giannis Antetokounmpo's size and age, it'd be hard for most teams not to take a risk on acquiring a player who is coming off three straight seasons of over 30 points per game and an average of 27.6 this season in an injury-plagued year.
