Milwaukee Bucks player Giannis Antetokounmpo is having an excellent year as the NBA starts the second half of the season.
His team sits in a great position to make a realistic chance to return to the NBA Championship, where he can grab his second NBA title in less than five years. According to Sports Illustrated, at the high rate of points he is scoring
(30.8 points per game) and the percentage of completion (61.6%) through the first 54 games, Antetokounmpo is on track to become the first and only player in NBA history to average at least 30 points and make 60% of his shots.He did come quite close last season to doing so when he averaged 31.1 points per game but fell short with his shooting percentage at 55.3%
Only two players have come close to hitting that feat. When he played for the Bucks, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar came close in two consecutive seasons. In 1970-71, the NBA Hall of Famer averaged 31.7 points on 57.7% shooting before averaging 34.8 points while connecting on 57.4% of his shots the following season in 1971–72.
Adrian Dantley, who played for the Utah Jazz, was the most recent player to come close to having a 30-point, 60% shooting season. In 1981-82, he put up 30.3 points and shot 57% from the field, and then the following season, in 1982-83, Dantley averaged 30.7 points on 58% shooting in 1982–83.
Now that the All-Star game is over and the season has picked back up, with 28 more games left in the 2022–23 season, the “Greek Freak,” barring injury, has a very realistic chance of accomplishing that feat by the time the playoff season rolls around in June.