Magic Johnson: Giannis will bring Bucks a championship one day

Magic Johnson sees a lot of himself when he watches the Greek Freak, and that's good news for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Much like Giannis Antetokounmpo today, Johnson's rare combination of size and ball-handling skills allowed the point guard to thrive during the Showtime era of the 1980s, when he helped deliver five NBA championships to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Now the Lakers' president of basketball operations, Johnson believes the 23-year-old has the potential to do for Milwaukee what Magic did for Los Angeles.

"Oh yeah," Johnson recently told ESPN's Nick Friedell. "With his ball-handling skills and his passing ability. He plays above the rim, I never could do that. But in his understanding of the game, his basketball IQ, his creativity of shots for his teammates. That's where we (have the) same thing. Can bring it down, make a pass, make a play.

"I'm just happy he's starting in the All-Star Game because he deserves that. And he's going to be like an MVP, a champion, this dude he's going to put Milwaukee on the map. And I think he's going to bring them a championship one day."

Currently ranked second in league scoring (his 28.4 points per game trail only James Harden's 30.9), Antetokounmpo's all-around performance this season has even placed the Bucks superstar in the MVP conversation. According to Basketball Reference's MVP tracker, Antetokounmpo is fifth with a 5.5 percent chance of earning the honor, trailing four-time winner LeBron James by just 0.3 percentage points (though they're both well behind the favorite in Harden, who sits at 43.3 percent).

When told about Johnson's flattering remarks, Anteokounmpo didn't shy away from the spotlight, noting they simply reinforced what he had already believed.

"The craziest thing is that I believe that," Antetokounmpo said. "But it's even more believable when other guys see that, like Magic. Especially Magic seeing that, that's big. Because it's almost like, 'OK, he sees that.' So I'm on the right path, I've got to do what I'm doing."