Europe’s Jokić and Antetokounmpo show America how to be a balanced superstar

“Basketball is not the main thing in my life. And probably never gonna be.”

Those are not the words you might expect to hear from the Denver Nuggets’ point-center Nikola Jokić: a bonafide superstar, two-time league MVP, who was, at the time of these comments, about to head into his (and his franchise’s) first ever NBA finals (where he would win, handily, for that matter). But Jokić is not the type of superstar we’ve come to expect in the NBA. He has something that has been rare, and even frowned upon, among athletes of his caliber: perspective. So, in a world where work/life balance is a hot button topic, and we’ve recently lived through a pandemic that flipped our lives upside down, why are his sentiments so polarizing? And are they a true anomaly, or a bellwether?

The discourse around perspective, how much of it an athlete should have and what the merits or drawbacks are therein, stormed into the NBA zeitgeist earlier this postseason, when Bucks supernova Giannis Antetokounmpo gave his postgame comments after his team’s shock first-round exit at the hands of the eight seed Miami Heat.

He was asked by a reporter if he considered the season a “failure,” in light of the sky-high expectations for the team. Antetokounmpo shook his head.

“Michael Jordan played 15 years. He won six championships. The other nine years were a failure? That’s what you’re telling me?” he asked. “It’s the wrong question. There’s no failure in sports. There’s good days, bad days. Some days you’re able to be successful, some days you’re not. Some days it’s your turn, some days it’s not your turn. And that’s what sports is about. You’re not always going to win.”

Some, of course, appreciated Giannis’ ability to see the bigger picture, to understand