{"id":17998,"date":"2026-07-22T10:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/giannis-antetokounmpo-ranked-17th-greatest-defender-in-nba-history-by-bleacher-report-greek-city-times\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T10:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:47:08","slug":"giannis-antetokounmpo-ranked-17th-greatest-defender-in-nba-history-by-bleacher-report-greek-city-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/giannis-antetokounmpo-ranked-17th-greatest-defender-in-nba-history-by-bleacher-report-greek-city-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Giannis Antetokounmpo ranked 17th greatest defender in NBA history by Bleacher Report \u2013 Greek City Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-first=\"G\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/strong> has been named the <strong>17th greatest defender in NBA history<\/strong> by <strong>Bleacher Report<\/strong>, earning recognition among basketball\u2019s all-time elite for his remarkable defensive impact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ranking places the Greek superstar ahead of several legendary names, highlighting the two-way dominance that helped define his prime with the Milwaukee Bucks.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bleacher Report praised Antetokounmpo\u2019s rare combination of size, athleticism and versatility, noting that he entered the NBA as a slender small forward before transforming into one of the league\u2019s most feared defenders.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSpeaking of athletic prodigies, Giannis Antetokounmpo entered the NBA as a 6-foot-10 small forward, extremely thin and physically incomplete. By his fourth season, he had already grown taller, put on a lot of muscle mass, and was starting to make All-Defensive teams.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The publication also highlighted one of the defining achievements of his career, pointing out that Antetokounmpo joined <strong>Michael Jordan<\/strong> and <strong>Hakeem Olajuwon<\/strong> as the only players in NBA history to win both the <strong>Most Valuable Player (MVP)<\/strong> and <strong>Defensive Player of the Year<\/strong> awards in the same season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While acknowledging that injuries and the passage of time have slightly reduced his defensive dominance, Bleacher Report emphasised that Antetokounmpo at his peak was capable of defending every position on the court.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAt the peak of his performance, Giannis could dominate opponents both near the basket and on the perimeter. Few players in history have combined defensive skills that suit both perimeter players and big players to the extent that he did.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 id=\"h-bleacher-report-s-top-20-nba-defenders-of-all-time\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bleacher Report\u2019s top 20 NBA defenders of all time<\/h3>\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bill Russell<\/li>\n<li>Tim Duncan<\/li>\n<li>Kevin Garnett<\/li>\n<li>Hakeem Olajuwon<\/li>\n<li>Ben Wallace<\/li>\n<li>Dikembe Mutombo<\/li>\n<li>Dennis Rodman<\/li>\n<li>Scottie Pippen<\/li>\n<li>Rudy Gobert<\/li>\n<li>Draymond Green<\/li>\n<li>David Robinson<\/li>\n<li>Kawhi Leonard<\/li>\n<li>Dwight Howard<\/li>\n<li>Gary Payton<\/li>\n<li>Michael Jordan<\/li>\n<li>Kareem Abdul-Jabbar<\/li>\n<li><strong>Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Wilt Chamberlain<\/li>\n<li>Anthony Davis<\/li>\n<li>Alonzo Mourning<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ranking reinforces Antetokounmpo\u2019s place among the greatest defensive players the NBA has ever seen. A former <strong>Defensive Player of the Year<\/strong>, multiple-time <strong>All-Defensive Team<\/strong> selection and <strong>NBA champion<\/strong>, the Greek star continues to build a legacy as one of the most complete players in basketball history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Source:<\/strong> Bleacher Report<\/p>\n<footer class=\"article-tags entry-footer\">\n<div>\n\t\t<strong>Tags:<\/strong><br \/>\n\t\tbasketball, Bill Russell, Bleacher Report, Defensive Player of the Year, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Greece, Greek freak, Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Milwaukee Bucks, nba, nba history\t<\/div>\n<\/footer><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/2026\/07\/22\/giannis-antetokounmpo-17th-greatest-nba-defender-bleacher-report\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Giannis Antetokounmpo has been named the 17th greatest defender in NBA history by Bleacher Report, earning recognition among basketball\u2019s all-time elite for his remarkable defensive impact. The ranking places the Greek superstar ahead of several legendary names, highlighting the two-way dominance that helped define his prime with the Milwaukee Bucks. Bleacher Report praised Antetokounmpo\u2019s rare &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Giannis Antetokounmpo ranked 17th greatest defender in NBA history by Bleacher Report \u2013 Greek City Times\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/22\/giannis-antetokounmpo-ranked-17th-greatest-defender-in-nba-history-by-bleacher-report-greek-city-times\/#more-17998\" aria-label=\"Read more about Giannis Antetokounmpo ranked 17th greatest defender in NBA history by Bleacher Report \u2013 Greek City Times\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/greekcitytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/giannis_125504.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in-greece.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}