5 Milwaukee Bucks franchise records Giannis Antetokounmpo could improve upon in the 2021-22 NBA season

Giannis Antetokounmpo celebrates after winning the 2021 NBA Finals with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Giannis Antetokounmpo celebrates after winning the 2021 NBA Finals with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had one of the greatest seasons in NBA history in 2020-21.

After winning back-to-back regular-season MVP awards (in 2019 and 2020), and the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2020, he won his first NBA championship and Finals MVP in 2021.

He also put up one of the great all-round performances, tallying 35.2 ppg, 13.2 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.2 spg and 1.8 bpg against the Phoenix Suns in the 2021 NBA Finals.

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Antetokounmpo will look to scale even greater peaks in the upcoming 2021-22 NBA season. Besides winning a third regular-season MVP award and another NBA championship, there are a bunch of franchise records for Milwaukee that he will look to better or own in 2021-22.

He is already in second place on the franchise leaderboard for points and rebounds, trailing only the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in both categories. It could take Antetokounmpo another three seasons to overtake Abdul-Jabbar in rebounding. But his chances of besting the six-time NBA champion on the Milwaukee scoring list is slim. Antetokounmpo trails Abdul-Jabbar by 1893 points, a figure he has bettered in only two NBA seasons (2017-18 and 2018-19).

Nonetheless, we take a look at five individual franchise regular-season records Giannis Antetokounmpo could better in the new NBA season, which starts on October 19. Obviously, the one big assumption here is that he won't endure any significant injury that keeps him out for most of the 2021-22 campaign.


#1 Giannis Antetokounmpo could move to third place in games played for Milwaukee Bucks

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The Milwaukee Bucks' all-time career leader for games played is Junior Bridgeman, with 711. Giannis Antetokounmpo is currently in fifth place on the Bucks' games played leader board, with 589 appearances.

Antetokounmpo needs to play only seven more regular-season games to move into fourth place, overtaking Jon McGlocklin who played 595 games for Milwaukee. He could well take McGlocklin's spot when the Milwaukee Bucks play the Utah Jazz in their seventh game of the 2021-22 regular season.

Giannis Antetokounmpo could leapfrog his way to third place by mid-December on the Milwaukee Bucks' games played leaderboard. He needs 30 appearances to overtake Bob Dandridge, who played 618 games for the Bucks in the 1970s.

Antetokounmpo, though, will have to wait for next season to overtake Hall-of-fFmer Sidney Moncrief for second place on the Bucks' games played list. Moncrief played 695 career games for Milwaukee.


#2 Giannis Antetokounmpo could move into second place in field goals for Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo drives past Mikal Bridges (#25) of the Phoenix Suns for a layup.
Giannis Antetokounmpo drives past Mikal Bridges (#25) of the Phoenix Suns for a layup.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has made the most field goals for Milwaukee. He made 5902 field goals for the team in the six seasons he spent with them between 1969 and 1975.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is already in fifth place on Milwaukee's field goals list, with 4499. He trails Bob Dandridge (4826 field goals), Glenn Robinson (4723 field goals) and Marques Johnson (4546 field goals). Antetokounmpo needs only 48 field goals to overtake Johnson, but could end up overtaking Dandridge and finish the 2021-22 regular season in second place on Milwaukee's field goals list.

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Antetokounmpo has averaged approximately 700 field goals per season over the last four campaigns, and Dandridge is ahead of the Greek Freak by only 327 field goals, So Antetokounmpo could jump into second place for Milwaukee by the end of the 2021-22 regular season.


Also Read: Who are Giannis’ parents?

#3 Giannis Antetokounmpo could break into the top five in steals for Milwaukee Bucks

Giannis Antetokounmpo steals the ball from Blake Griffin (#2) of the Brooklyn Nets.
Giannis Antetokounmpo steals the ball from Blake Griffin (#2) of the Brooklyn Nets.

Khris Middleton, with 703 steals, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, with 692 steals, currently rank sixth and eighth, respectively, for the Milwaukee Bucks on their all-time steals list.

While Middleton is certain to overtake Brian Winters, who only has 15 more steals than him, Antetokounmpo could pass Marques Johnson who has 697 steals for the franchise.

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Middleton should also pass Alvin Robertson who currently occupies fourth position with 753 steals against his name for Milwaukee. Antetokounmpo needs 62 steals to overtake the fourth-placed Robertson.

That is something he should be able to do, given that he has averaged 93 steals per season in his last five campaigns. If he does that and overtakes Middleton too, Antetokounmpo could end the 2021-22 regular season among the Bucks' four highest steals getter. Even if Middleton stays ahead of him, Antetokounmpo could still round off the top five for Milwaukee on their all-time steals leaderboard.


#4 Giannis Antetokounmpo could move into second position in assists for Milwaukee Bucks

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Paul Pressey and Sidney Moncrief rank one and two on the assists list for Milwaukee. Pressey has 3272 assists for Milwaukee, while Moncrief has 2689. Giannis Antetokounmpo has 2632 assists in his eight-year career with Milwaukee, trailing Moncrief by only 57 assists. Antetokounmpo, who averaged a little under six assists per game last season, should be able to overtake Moncrief by the time Milwaukee play their tenth game of the 2021-22 season.

Pressey could remain out of reach this year, though, for Antetokounmpo. He is ahead of the Greek Freak by 640 assists, a number that is nearly two hundred assists better than the 434 assists Antetokounmpo dished out in 2016-17, his best single season showing in the NBA. But even if Giannis Antetkounmpo doesn't overtake Pressey this season, he could get the better of him next season.


#5 Antetokounmp could move into first place in blocked shots for Milwaukee

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The seven-foot-tall Alton Lister played for the Milwaukee Bucks in the early 1980s. Lister tallied 804 blocks during his seven seasons with the Bucks to lead all shot blockers for the franchise.

Giannis Antetokounmpo already has 765 blocks for the Bucks. His career average per season is 1.3 bpg. He averaged 1.2 bpg in the 2020-21 season.

Even if he puts up one block a game in the upcoming NBA season, he should overtake Lister by the time the Bucks play their 40th game of the season in early-to-mid January 2022. That would be a nice way for Giannis Antetokounmpo to bring up the new year.

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Edited by Bhargav