Giannis Antetokounmpo has been under the spotlight for the majority of the offseason. After being constantly linked to a trade away from the Milwaukee Bucks, the Greek Freak produced a commanding  campaign for Greece at EuroBasket 2025, guiding them to their first podium finish since 2009. The two-time MVP is entering his 13th season in the league, and is aptly considered to be one of the best players in the world. However, who does he believe stand out?

When asked whether he thinks he’s the best player in the world by Sport24, the 30-year-old denied the crown. “It’s everyone’s preference,” he said. However, the former NBA champion did not hesitate to name who he thinks are amongst the top five players in the world right now, and his answer was surprising to say the least. “Okay, but… My view is always that when you get to the top and it’s five players, that today, uh, today with last season that became five. Yes, it’s five. Okay, 2026 might be eight. I don’t know, we’ll see. But it depends on the year you do it. Those five players, I believe, for me are Luka, Jokic, Shai,” Antetokounmpo continued.

As he was about to name the final two players, the host interrupted and asked the Greek Freak, “And Steph?” To which Giannis gave a stunning reply, “No, Tatum. Tatum and me.” The Bucks superstar snubbed the greatest three-point shooter in the history of the league and rather named Jayson Tatum in his top-five list right now. That’s massive coming from someone like Giannis Antetokounmpo. While this might hurt the sentiments of many Curry and Dubs fans, you’ve got to understand the forward’s perspective.

He’s rating these players based on their performances from last season, and it goes without saying that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic walk into any list based on their incredible stats from the previous campaign. Shai won the MVP, led the OKC Thunder to a championship, and averaged 32.7 points per game while doing so. Nikola Jokic is a three-time MVP winner while Doncic had an incredible campaign for Slovenia at the EuroBasket 2025 and had an incredible first season that has led to him being seen as the future for the Purple & Gold. This brings us to Curry and Tatum, both of whom were pretty great years and are neck and neck in terms of stats, but for Giannis, Tatum took the last remaining place ahead of Stephen Curry.

You could say that last season, the Boston Celtics forward might just have been a tiny bit better than the four-time NBA champion based on their respective stat lines. However, the argument can as well be based on the fact that Tatum more recently won the 2023 Championship with the Celtics while playing a starring role. His unavailability for the upcoming campaign has led to a roster-wide shakeup, and while his overall achievements may not hold a candle to the Chef’s, the argument is based on recent form and performances.

Barring that, even players like Kevin Durant and LeBron James would undoubtedly have deserved a look-in, which is why Giannis has every right to have his own subjective list. Of course, Antetokounmpo has truly cemented his place as one of the best players in the world right now, having won numerous accolades, including nine All-Star appearances, a Defensive Player of the Year, and even being named as a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, along with plenty of other honors,

Yes, we know the numbers don’t tell the entire story, but they do tell a lot, and that seems to be enough to prompt Giannis Antetokounmpo to pick Tatum over the soon-to-be Hall of Famer Steph Curry. Nonetheless, the Bucks superstar’s top-five list wasn’t the only surprising list, as ESPN’s MVP polls for next season took things further up a notch.

ESPN analysts also leave out Stephen Curry from their MVP poll

It seems like ESPN’s reporters shared a similar view to that of Giannis Antetokounmpo, as just like the Milwaukee Bucks superstar, they also snubbed Curry from their MVP polls for the highly anticipated new season. Denver Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic was the clear winner with 7 votes, which isn’t much of a surprise after the Joker had yet another impressive campaign last season. Last season, the Serbian center averaged a stellar 29.7 points along with 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists, as he finished second in the MVP voting.

Following Jokic closely is last season’s winner, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who’ll be hoping he and his team can repeat their heroics from last year. It is after the first two positions that the surprises start to enter, as ESPN placed Luka Doncic at third, after what has been a staggering summer for the Slovenian guard, and could finally win his first MVP trophy if all goes well. Then, a couple of analysts believe that this could also be finally the Alien’s year as they tipped Victor Wembanyama to win the MVP honors this season.

To wrap it up, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Edwards each got one vote. These are all the players whom the ESPN Insiders think can win the best player award next season. Now that you know who they named, it’s obvious that two big names are missing from this list: one is of LeBron James, and the other, of course, is Stephen Curry. It seems like, with both superstars reaching the twilight of their careers, the analyst believes that it’s time for the next generation to spend time under the spotlight.