Who is the better player currently: Shai or Giannis

[LewisnotMiller]

Who is playing better this year/right now? Undoubtedly it’s Shai.

Who is the better player? I think that’s tougher. We’ve seen what Giannis is capable of. And he’s still incredible this year. He’s just a couple steps behind Shai. His supporting cast is also worse than it’s been in a while.

We’ve seen guys bounce back from much smaller deficits.

I’m a homer so I’ll say Shai.

I'm not a homer, and I'd say Shai with much the same reasoning.

I would say they're both clearly in the 'good enough to lead a championship team' tier, which is the most important thing.

[RoyceDa59]

I gotta go with Giannis for sure, I’ve seen him elevate to beast mode in the playoffs like few others ever have, and he carried his team to a chip.

You also can’t teach size.

[TheGOATRises007]

Currently? Shai.

I think Giannis' defense has slipped from past years.

My answer could change depending on how the playoffs go though.

[CobraCommander]

The guy who’s already proven it in the playoffs.

Yeah I don’t get how this is a real question- giannis still in his prime with dpoy two mvps a fmvp a ring and is still the most efficient guy playing… and SGA the mvp for this year… two things that are true but neither makes a great player like SGA better than a great player that’s a champ

The hardware has to matter or it’s simply - game by game who better right now

[Mavrelous]

Shai is the clear better pkayer right now, and it's not really close...
If you want to copare peak Giannis to current SGa then that's a different question.

[The-Power]

The hardware has to matter or it’s simply - game by game who better right now

The hardware is for legacy and historical rankings. It doesn't determine who's currently better.

[Big J]

Shai is the clear better pkayer right now, and it's not really close...
If you want to copare peak Giannis to current SGa then that's a different question.

Giannis is at his peak right now. He’s just saving his best stuff for the playoffs. SGA on the other hand is going balls to the wall to win an MVP award.

[tsherkin]

Shai is the clear better pkayer right now, and it's not really close...
If you want to copare peak Giannis to current SGa then that's a different question.

Giannis is at his peak right now. He’s just saving his best stuff for the playoffs. SGA on the other hand is going balls to the wall to win an MVP award.

Giannis isn't at his peak. His defensive certainly isn't, and he really isn't scoring much differently than he did as far back as his MVP/DPOY season. So it's basically impossible to argue that he's peaking right now.

[CobraCommander]

The hardware has to matter or it’s simply - game by game who better right now

The hardware is for legacy and historical rankings. It doesn't determine who's currently better.

If the guy that has the hardware is still in his prime and still doing his thing it does.

I love sga but we don’t know if what he is doing leads to ring- we know that with giannis and jokic.

I got them ahead of everyone while they are still in their prime and the people chasing them are not crushing them stat wise. I think if the bucks were leading the nba in wins- giannis would be neck and neck in the race- Sga just on a run of winning with greatness… which is great - but giannis team is some hot garbage -

If you got Sga ahead of giannis- cool it’s preference- i just don’t see it that way. But it’s not some over the top insane take

[Mavrelous]

Shai is the clear better pkayer right now, and it's not really close...
If you want to copare peak Giannis to current SGa then that's a different question.

Giannis is at his peak right now. He’s just saving his best stuff for the playoffs. SGA on the other hand is going balls to the wall to win an MVP award.

He's nowhere near his peak, and he's not some PO monster for us to ignore his current body of work and say he'll bring it in the PO, he's had 2 deep PO runs in 11 years career...

[Big J]

Shai is the clear better pkayer right now, and it's not really close...
If you want to copare peak Giannis to current SGa then that's a different question.

Giannis is at his peak right now. He’s just saving his best stuff for the playoffs. SGA on the other hand is going balls to the wall to win an MVP award.

Giannis isn't at his peak. His defensive certainly isn't, and he really isn't scoring much differently than he did as far back as his MVP/DPOY season. So it's basically impossible to argue that he's peaking right now.

Like I said, he’s saving it for the playoffs. You just can’t tell because you are using regular season games to evaluate him.

[HMFFL]

Shai is the clear better pkayer right now, and it's not really close...
If you want to copare peak Giannis to current SGa then that's a different question.

Giannis is at his peak right now. He’s just saving his best stuff for the playoffs. SGA on the other hand is going balls to the wall to win an MVP award.

Giannis has far from peaked. He's an elite talent that has proven that he's only getting better. Are you suggesting that he's peaked because hes 30 years old?

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[tsherkin]

Like I said, he’s saving it for the playoffs. You just can’t tell because you are using regular season games to evaluate him.

No, if he was at his peak, we'd be seeing it in the RS as well. It's quite possible he's saving it for the playoffs, but that's because he's past-peak and doesn't have the juice to do both.

[Big J]

Like I said, he’s saving it for the playoffs. You just can’t tell because you are using regular season games to evaluate him.

No, if he was at his peak, we'd be seeing it in the RS as well. It's quite possible he's saving it for the playoffs, but that's because he's past-peak and doesn't have the juice to do both.

Nah, he has the juice, but he has been through this enough times that he knows what really matters.

[falcolombardi]

Shai is the clear better pkayer right now, and it's not really close...
If you want to copare peak Giannis to current SGa then that's a different question.

Giannis is at his peak right now. He’s just saving his best stuff for the playoffs. SGA on the other hand is going balls to the wall to win an MVP award.

He's nowhere near his peak, and he's not some PO monster for us to ignore his current body of work and say he'll bring it in the PO, he's had 2 deep PO runs in 11 years career...

Just to be clear on this

Why would having only 2 deep runs get held against giannis, but not against jokic

[Big J]

Giannis is at his peak right now. He’s just saving his best stuff for the playoffs. SGA on the other hand is going balls to the wall to win an MVP award.

He's nowhere near his peak, and he's not some PO monster for us to ignore his current body of work and say he'll bring it in the PO, he's had 2 deep PO runs in 11 years career...

Just to be clear on this

Why would having only 2 deep runs get held against giannis, but not against jokic

How many deep runs has SGA had? Zero

[tsherkin]

Nah, he has the juice, but he has been through this enough times that he knows what really matters.

He really doesn't. He's 30, he's already been injured this season, he HAS been injured on and off for years. He's already playing around with his mid-range game to try and improve his longevity. He isn't capable of just smashing into guys all night long anymore, and he clearly doesn't have the energy to max out his defensive effort the way he used to. That's all normal at his age and at the stage he's occupying in his career.

If he COULD play the D at the same time, he would, but he hasn't for several years now. His effort in that regard is visibly down, and his production on that front is also down. It just isn't in him to do it all season long.

That's... how aging works. It happens to everyone, particularly guys shouldering a volume scoring burden in their later years in the sport.

[Big J]

Nah, he has the juice, but he has been through this enough times that he knows what really matters.

He really doesn't. He's 30, he's already been injured this season, he HAS been injured on and off for years. He's already playing around with his mid-range game to try and improve his longevity. He isn't capable of just smashing into guys all night long anymore, and he clearly doesn't have the energy to max out his defensive effort the way he used to. That's all normal at his age and at the stage he's occupying in his career.

If he COULD play the D at the same time, he would, but he hasn't for several years now. His effort in that regard is visibly down, and his production on that front is also down. It just isn't in him to do it all season long.

That's... how aging works. It happens to everyone, particularly guys shouldering a volume scoring burden in their later years in the sport.

Actually that’s not it at all. The reason it seems like that is because young guys go balls to the wall to win personal accolades. Vets understand those things are meaningless in the grand scheme, so they coast until the playoffs. That’s… how it works.

[Mavrelous]

Giannis is at his peak right now. He’s just saving his best stuff for the playoffs. SGA on the other hand is going balls to the wall to win an MVP award.

He's nowhere near his peak, and he's not some PO monster for us to ignore his current body of work and say he'll bring it in the PO, he's had 2 deep PO runs in 11 years career...

Just to be clear on this

Why would having only 2 deep runs get held against giannis, but not against jokic

It's held against both, check the Jokic GOAT thread, but it is held much less against Jokic because he had only 9 seasons, and 2 of them were with terrible rosters, that's why Giannis is top 25ish, while Jokic is top 10ish...

[dhsilv2]

Giannis really hasn't shown he's a high end playoff performer. I'm not saying he's bad at all, but I don't see the argument he's proven himself that much more than Shai.

I voted Shai but I'd be fully open to Giannis here. They're right there.