- [Joe] After coming up short several times
vying for MVP honors,
James Harden finally broke through
and won the award in 2018.
Once he got that sweet taste of success,
he wanted nothing more than to take another bite.
The only issue: a very large obstacle stepped in his way,
and instead of everyone just enjoying
their time in the spotlight,
we got some beef.
(pensive music)
Let's throw it back to 2014.
During a Milwaukee Bucks blowout loss
to the Houston Rockets,
Giannis Antetokounmpo forced James Harden into a turnover
and proceeded to whisper sweet nothings to him.
Harden wasn't entertained and pushed Giannis away.
Before things escalated,
teammates got involved and cooler heads prevailed.
These types of incidents typically start a feud,
but not in this instance.
Beef it at its best when it's between
two individuals on the same level,
and at that moment,
Giannis was just a young, developing player
hyped to make a play against one of the NBA's top talents.
Giannis was in his second year
and was the NBA's latest mysterious international prospect.
Experts viewed the kid from Greece more as a project,
and his journey to the NBA enamored journalists
more than his play on the court.
Harden had bigger issues to worry about
than a kid getting acclimated to the league.
The Beard set his sights on becoming the NBA's latest MVP.
In 2015, Harden finished as the runner-up behind Steph Curry,
who led the Golden State Warriors
to the best record in the NBA.
That didn't shake Harden's confidence though.
He had a remarkable season
and viewed himself as more deserving of the award
because he was more valuable to his team.
His peers agreed with him when they voted Harden MVP
for the first-ever NBA Players' Award.
Players thought media members
had too much power deciding NBA honors,
so they created this award as their counterpart
and Harden was thankful to be acknowledged
by his fellow players.
The NBA players' MVP award was short-lived,
and Harden might've wished it was still around in 2017.
That season, Harden again finished as the runner-up for MVP,
this time behind his friend
and former teammate Russell Westbrook.
He was once again vocal about losing the award,
saying he thought it was all about winning,
which, you know, kinda contradicts his past statements
when he lost to Steph.
Anyways, the following season it was tough to deny him.
Harden had another phenomenal year
and finally earned the award
that he felt was already owed to him.
Something that he quickly made sure to remind people of.
Now, winning one MVP is cool and all,
but Harden was not satisfied.
He had a legitimate chance to repeat as the winner in 2019.
Whether he wanted to prove to himself that he could
or run it back out of spite,
Harden was confident he would be victorious.
He just had some fresh competition this time around.
The slender international kid
who was once viewed as a project
nowhere near fully being developed as a player
made the leap into MVP contention.
Since Giannis' rookie season, he quickly transformed
into one of the league's premier all-around players.
Offensively, Giannis learned to be a better passer
while developing great ball-handling skills,
becoming a menace in the open court.
On the other side of the ball,
Giannis was a strong perimeter defender.
As he grew into a muscular frame,
he learned to use his length and newfound strength
to protect the rim at an elite level.
In the 2018-19' season, Giannis again elevated his play.
He averaged the best numbers of his career
and led the Bucks to the most wins in the NBA.
Which, according to Harden's MVP criteria,
if wins are the most important factor,
then Giannis had the edge for the award.
Their play sparked a heated debate
on what exactly qualifies an MVP,
leaving media members torn.
It was tough to escape the discourse,
but Harden and Giannis didn't appear
to have any bad blood during it all.
The only little piece of beef we got
was an incident in where Giannis
accidentally tossed a ball off of Harden's face.
After the game though,
Giannis apologized and they both laughed it off,
with Harden even praising Giannis
for being one of the league's top players.
Which is a huge statement coming from someone like Harden,
who hasn't always praised
the other top talent in the league.
Harden had a sensational season and was vocal
about how much winning the award would mean to him.
He wanted it.
So when Giannis was crowned 2019 MVP instead of Harden,
the Houston Rockets had their star's back.
It was a monumental moment for the Greek Freak,
but the Rockets respectfully disagreed.
It's not unusual to see franchises stand up for their stars,
but usually the stars aren't also
going on the defensive themselves.
While making an appearance on a Houston radio show
during the offseason,
Harden said the award was impacted by media narrative
and it was out of his control.
Reporters called Harden a whiner,
which was one of many criticisms they leveled against him.
Throughout his time in Houston,
Harden was heavily criticized
for his postseason shortcomings.
People often critiqued his style of play
or questioned his effort on defense
and selfishness as a player.
Harden would drop record-breaking performances,
but afterward the question was always:
"Well, what about the free throws?"
As for Giannis, he was becoming a bit of a media darling.
Besides his heartwarming path to stardom,
Giannis began lighting up media rooms
with his playful personality and admiration for dad jokes.
He never received the type of criticism Harden did,
a product of age, experience, and expectation.
Weeks after his original comments,
Harden doubled down when asked
if the media had found a narrative
for the upcoming season's MVP.
Harden said it was too early,
but they for sure had their eyes locked on some teams.
He went on to forcefully make his claim
for why he though he deserved to win,
and just couldn't understand how all the conversation
revolved around this Giannis guy.
In Harden's eyes, it just didn't make any sense.
Harden's initial beef with Giannis
was a byproduct of an original beef he had with the media.
If you won MVP when Harden finished as the runner-up,
you were bound to catch some strays.
Giannis didn't seem to be bothered though.
When asked about the comments,
Giannis understood Houston would support Harden
but he didn't want to play the game
of who he thought was better,
although he didn't lack any confidence
reminding people that the trophy was still at his crib.
After all the chatter,
the two MVPs got to start off their year
going head-to-head in a season-opening matchup.
The Bucks got the win with smothering defense,
holding Harden to a poor shooting performance,
something Harden attributed to himself and not Milwaukee.
Harden did shoot 100% from the field elsewhere though.
Harden went 1-for-1 insulting Giannis
when he pretended to duck for cover
after Giannis airballed a three.
It might've been a preemptive duck from Harden
because during All-Star Weekend,
Giannis sent some direct shots at Harden
that fully popped things off.
Since Giannis was voted as a captain,
because of the new All-Star format
he got to draft players from any conference he wanted,
live on TV.
When Giannis was questioned why
he wasn't considering choosing Harden
over Kemba Walker or Trae Young, Giannis replied...
- [Giannis] I want somebody that's gonna pass the ball.
That's what I want. (all laughing)
- [Joe] Everyone laughed and the moment appeared
to be Giannis just being Giannis,
but when he later responded to a question
about his team's offensive game plan
late in the All-Star Game,
it quickly became personal.
He made it a point to emphasize
that his team targeted Harden on defense,
although the initial question
never mentioned the bearded one.
Which makes this play in the All-Star Game,
where Giannis elbowed Harden, a little more questionable.
In an interview that aired after the All-Star break,
Harden didn't appear to be amused.
When asked about Giannis' dig at him,
Harden responded by saying he didn't see what was so funny.
Harden made it clear that he felt under appreciated,
saying he'll get his true recognition
when it's all said and done.
Instead of stopping there,
Harden clapped back right at Giannis,
saying his style of play takes no skill
and he could essentially do the same thing Giannis does
if he were seven feet tall.
When Giannis was asked about Harden's comments,
he played coy.
Giannis downplayed their dispute
and said there hadn't been any type of back and forth,
but Harden was free to believe what he wanted.
Sure, Giannis says he's not the type of guy
to take stabs at someone,
but it was certainly no accident that he joined the media
on attacking two subjects that were sensitive to Harden.
Or maybe Giannis had realized the magnitude of their beef
and didn't want it to escalate further.
A month later, Giannis offered a bit of a truce
when he said Harden was the toughest person
to guard in the NBA.
The two faced off later that same year in the bubble,
but Harden didn't want to feed into the conflict.
After the Rockets pulled off a close win
in which Harden had two key defensive stops,
including forcing Giannis into a turnover,
Harden was reminded of his negative defensive narrative
and was asked if he had something to prove
going against Giannis.
Harden laughed off the question,
saying he doesn't really care what people have to say
and said he had nothing to prove to anybody.
At this point,
that feels like a wild thing for Harden to say
considering how he's also acknowledged
that winning a ring would silence all the haters
and he's confident he'll get one.
Nevertheless, that was the last time
the two faced off that season,
but they were both once again finalists for MVP.
Giannis was the clear front-runner,
so there wasn't as much spirited debate
when he was named the winner.
He was grateful for the award,
but after being eliminated early in the playoffs,
Giannis' focus was to become a champion.
Watching Giannis win consecutive MVPs
must've stung for Harden,
but he appeared to want to put the beef behind him
when he added Milwaukee to his preferred
trade destination list the following season.
The Bucks consulted Giannis
and ultimately passed on the trade,
but Giannis' pursuit of becoming a champion
became a little more difficult
when Harden formed a new big three
in the Eastern Conference.
Both Giannis and Harden continued to play MVP-caliber ball
with Harden even declaring himself as the winner,
but after some very close matchups,
the media focused on a highly anticipated playoff showdown
between the Bucks and Brooklyn Nets.
They squared off in a closely contested semifinals series,
but the opportunities for beef
on the highest stage were limited.
While Giannis was the clear leader for Milwaukee,
Harden was out for most of the series
with a hamstring injury.
There was still an opportunity for pettiness though.
During the playoffs,
Giannis' lengthy free-throw routine annoyed a lot of people
and Harden was one of them.
In the first quarter of Game 6,
Giannis stepped up to the free-throw line
to start his routine,
but you could visibly see Harden
grow more and more frustrated the longer it took.
The man was fed up.
Nonetheless, Giannis led the Bucks from a 3-2 deficit
over Harden's Nets to advance to the next round,
and then went on to accomplish
his mission of becoming a champion
while earning Finals MVP in the process.
After the win,
Giannis stepped to the podium with both trophies in hand
and spoke about earning it the hard way.
He said he could've easily gone
to a superteam to win a ring,
but he didn't want to name anyone specific
who attempted that route.
Giannis' claim about earning it the hard way
speaks to this beef in a lot of ways.
Giannis has always been a team-first guy
who's gone as far as saying
it's disrespectful to his teammates to discuss free agency.
It makes sense that he would have issues
with Harden's style of play, his personal quest for MVPs,
and how he left Houston.
For Harden, he may resent Giannis for his physical gifts
to play a certain style of basketball,
but more than anything, Giannis stole his shine.
Harden felt like the media swooned
over Giannis' compelling narrative
of going from unknown player to NBA star
more than they cared about performance.
No matter how much he says he ignores it,
for someone that finished as an MVP runner-up
three times in five seasons,
I'm sure Harden just wants to stop and smell his flowers
without getting the sick stench of criticism,
like Giannis can.
Or maybe we should've seen this feud coming years ago.
When Giannis went at Harden early in his career,
perhaps that was a sign of a young, hopeful player
striving to reach the level of greatness that Harden was at.
These are two extremely skilled hoopers
with vastly different personalities
competing at the highest level,
so when they finally crossed paths as equals
there was bound to be some beef.
Yo, thanks for watching two grown men
act like middle schoolers and be petty over an MVP trophy.
If you want to see more pettiness over a trophy,
check this video out.
Or if you just like drama in general,
this is the perfect video for you.
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