For Bucks standout Giannis Antetokounmpo, NBA All-Star Game start secondary to winning

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo wasn't in the locker room by the time the media were allowed in following Wednesday's 106-101 loss to the Miami Heat.

A security guard had seen him leave in sweats, possibly still in his uniform, and surmised he might be headed across the street to the team's practice facility, something Antetokounmpo has been known to do in the past.

It's impossible to know exactly what was going through his mind in those moments — Antetokounmpo has not made himself available to the media since. But it's reasonable to assume he wasn't thinking ahead to the NBA All-Star Game or Thursday's announcement of the 10 starters — a list that unsurprisingly included his name, with Antetokounmpo receiving the second-most total votes (2,530,211) behind Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James (2,638,294).

Antetokounmpo is the first Bucks player to start consecutive all-star games since Marques Johnson in 1979 and '80.

James was the top vote-getter in the East, taking the captain spot and putting him in position to pick his team against a squad selected by West leading vote-getter Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. Antetokounmpo finished second in the fan vote by 108,083 votes and tied James in the media vote, but got more votes from the league's players.

“I think it’s a great honor," Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. "It’s well-deserved not just by the vote — he would be in the game no matter what. That just shows his popularity here in a small market of being one of the top vote-getters in the league. He’s likable on and off the floor."

James and Antetokounmpo are joined by Philadelphia's Joel Embiid, Boston's Kyrie Irving and Toronto's DeMar DeRozan as all-star starters out of the East. Joining Curry out of the West are his teammate Kevin Durant, Houston's James Harden and New Orleans' big men Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins.

For Antetokounmpo, a well-chronicled hard worker who takes games seriously and losses personally, his growing collection of accolades is a great compliment. But he's been consistent in pointing out that winning trumps all and represents the singular goal of his toils.

“He does care, he does want to win," Kidd said. "I think he said it before … that he’s going to be judged on winning. The great ones are. When you look at LeBron and Kobe (Bryant) and Michael (Jordan), the great ones are all judged on winning, not how much money they’ve made, but winning.

"There’s only a select few in the game of basketball that are put into that category, and (Antetokounmpo's) going to be one of those guys in that category.”

Winning has been a slippery thing for the Bucks this season. At 23-21 heading into Saturday's game at the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee is four games ahead of last year's pace. That's nice, but it's not exactly where the Bucks want to be.

The Bucks have bounced back and forth between the win and loss columns this season, with their persistent inconsistency keeping them from building long winning streaks while also holding consecutive losses to a minimum.

"We just feel like we can be in a better place, and that’s good because we all believe that we can be playing better on both ends of the floor — sharing the ball, rebounding the ball," Kidd said when asked about the level of frustration within the team. "But for whatever reason, we just haven’t been consistent. ...

“We talked today about it. Not just winning but coming back to try to win again. We’ve had a problem with winning two or three games in a row then dropping two or three games.”

This season thus far has been a continuation of the learning process for the Bucks, especially when it comes to leadership on the floor and in the locker room. The team brought back the majority of its squad from last year, tasking that group to take a jump from last season's sixth-place finish in the East and first-round playoff exit against the Toronto Raptors.

The front office made the move to add point guard Eric Bledsoe in November to bolster the team, but the Bucks are still figuring out who to look to and lean on when things get tough. Understandably, everyone takes cues from the best players on the court — Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Bledsoe.

Antetokounmpo is unquestionably the best player on the team, but he's still figuring out how to be a leader. Middleton has been around for five years, the same amount of time as Antetokounmpo, but similarly is learning to grow as a leader. Bledsoe is the newest of the bunch and finding his fit — something he talked with Kidd about as recently as Thursday.

“We have some vets in Delly (Matthew Dellavedova) and Jet (Jason Terry), but we don’t have just the one guy," Kidd said. "It’s not Giannis, it’s not Khris and it’s not Bled. It’s multiple guys that have to do that job.

"We have Giannis learning what it means to be a leader every night and sometimes that’s hard. When you haven’t been in that position as a young player, in CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) or high school, and now being asked at the highest level to be that leader it takes time.

"He’s going in the right direction. Again, as I’ve said, he’s going to struggle some nights with that.”

While the Bucks have had their ups and downs, there's no question Antetokounmpo has been incredible on the court this season.

He ranks second in the NBA in points per game (28.2), 10th in rebounds per game (10.1), 18th in blocks per game (1.3) and 20th in steals per game (1.5) while slotting in third in player efficiency rating (29.5) and leading all players in minutes per game at 37.4.

When he's on the court the Bucks are outscoring their opponents and in the rare times he's off the court, Milwaukee has been outscored by double digits per game.

Those are winning contributions even though the Bucks haven't figured out how to put it all together yet. At the very least, though, he's clearly deserving of the individual honor of starting in the All-Star Game for the second year in a row.

“He deserves it, he put in the work," Bledsoe said, mentioning that he started to respect Antetokounmpo while playing with the Phoenix Suns.

"He put in the work and it’s paying off. Now it’s just winning. The great players, they win.”