James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo are two extremely skilled hoopers with vastly different personalities. Harden is far more reserved and at a point dominated the league as he competed for MVP year after year. Despite finishing as the runner-up and even finally earning the MVP award in 2018, Harden’s playing style and his playoff shortcomings were heavily criticized by the media. As for Giannis, when he came into the league he was an innocent international prospect who was viewed more as a project and journalists were more enamored with his journey to the NBA rather than his performance.

Harden had been hell-bent on proving he was the best player in the league and repeating as MVP certainly would have proved that, but there was Giannis stealing his shine. Now that the two were both on equal levels as players, playful exchanges between the two quickly turned personal and led to beef.