3 things Giannis Antetokounmpo must do to become a top-5 NBA player of all time

2. Win multiple championships

Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 holds in his handsthe Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP Award and the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.

Giannis Antetokounmpo just won his first title but he has to be hungry for more.

One thing common about the greatest players of all time is how many championships they won. Of the top eight players, Chamberlain has the least with two. The rest have at least three (Larry Bird) with Russell lording it over everyone with 11.

If Giannis Antetokounmpo wants to be known as a top five player of all time, he may have to win at least four. The only reason why Chamberlain is in the top five despite only winning two championships is because of how insanely unreachable some of his records are.

Giannis is an NBA champion 🙌 pic.twitter.com/FzcokKGhW6

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 21, 2021

Chamberlain reached mythical levels of achievement that may never be attained by anyone. His 100-point game still stands as the greatest scoring achievement, and it was six decades ago when he accomplished that. It’s doubtful that anyone in the modern era will be able to replicate, let alone surpass, any of Chamberlain’s scoring and rebounding records that are still left standing.

That’s why Giannis Antetokounmpo must win multiple titles. Aside from records that he needs to break, he will have to win four or five titles and be the top player in the Finals in at least four of them. Doing so will put him in the conversation for top five of all time.

1. Giannis Antetokounmpo should win multiple MVP Awards and take home several awards

Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 celebrates

Giannis Antetokounmpo won back-to-back MVP awards from 2018-19 to 2019-20, and won the Defensive Player of the Year Award during that second season as well. These are vital to the Greek Freak’s case.

What distinguished the top five players of all time is how many MVPs each of them won. Consider that Jordan won five, James has four, Abdul-Jabbar had six, Chamberlain had four and Russell had five.

Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo beat out Anthony Davis and Rudy Gobert to capture the NBA's 2019-20 Defensive Player of the Year award. https://t.co/c8gDNRBsBp

— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) August 25, 2020

Giannis Antetokounmpo is halfway through James’ and Chamberlain’s total. Winning multiple MVPs shows your dominance and how you owned the league during your career. If an NBA player can’t be an alpha dog and own the narrative throughout a season several times during one’s career, then he’s not fit to join the most elite group in the league.

Breaking into the top five has to be hard because we're talking about the best of the best. Multiple MVPs isn’t a suggestion, it’s a must.

Of course, Giannis Antetokounmpo also has to be named for several other awards, too. Being a multiple-time All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defensive team member would go a long way into his case. Getting into the All-Defensive team is important because not every great player is a great defensive player.

Giannis Antetokounmpo could have a leg up on some of the other members of the top five by getting named to multiple All-League teams. Of course, the All-Defensive teams weren’t in place until 1969 so Chamberlain and Russell are at a disadvantage. But the fact is, it’s in place now and so Antetokounmpo must ensure that he is among these elite groups as often as he can. He’s already named to three First Team All-Defensive and two Second Teams, so he’s well on his way.

It’s tough to crack the top five players of all-time in the NBA, but if there’s anything that Giannis Antetokounmpo has done in his career, it’s that he has exceeded everyone’s expectations of him.

---