During his Hall of Fame induction on Saturday, San Antonio Spurs legend Manu Ginobili received one of the biggest praises from his countryman and fellow sports icon Lionel Messi.
In an endearing message to his fellow Argentinean, Messi called himself the “Manu of football.”
“It makes me very proud to hear a journalist say that Manu is the Messi of basketball. In fact, they should say that I am the Manu of football,” Messi said, per Spurs social media.
While they may be different players who played different roles in different sports, they remain two of the most influential athletes in Argentina and the world over the past couple of decades. Not to mention that the creativity and talent they showed are indeed comparable.
Lionel Messi is largely considered one of the GOATs of football, so his praise of Manu Ginobili certainly holds a lot of weight and speaks volume of how impactful the former Spurs guard had been.
Ginobili is not your typical Hall of Famer. He never won an MVP and made the All-Star team just twice in his career. Nonetheless, no one can ever ignore his contributions to the Spurs during their championship runs.
Among all the players that have played at least 1000 games in NBA history, no one has a higher winning percentage than Ginobili. He has a career 72.1 percent winning rate, a testament to how much he has helped San Antonio win four championships during his time with the team.
Sure enough, Ginobili deserves all the recognition and praise he's getting.
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