With last night’s blockbuster NBA trade, it is officially the end of the Giannis Antetokounmpo era in Milwaukee. From 2013 to 2026, Giannis led the franchise to two Eastern Conference Finals and their first NBA championship in 50 years. He also won back-to-back MVPs in 2019 and 2020, solidifying his status as one of the best players in his era and in Milwaukee Bucks history.
From 2019 to 2024, the Bucks finished in the top 3 of the Eastern Conference standings in all six seasons, and had the league’s best record three times, 2019, 2020 and 2023.
The Bucks’ run from 2019 to 2024, was it a disappointment since the team only won one championship? Well, the team who the Bucks beat in the 2021 Finals, the Phoenix Suns, have been one of the most successful NBA teams without an NBA championship. The Suns even finished the 2021-22 regular season with the league’s best record before flaming out early in the 2022 playoffs. Surely they would take the one title in their recent years with All-Star Devin Booker.
One of the Bucks rivals, the Indiana Pacers have been a usually consistent team in the Eastern Conference dating back to the Reggie Miller teams, only to be 0-2 in their two NBA Finals appearances in their franchise’s history.
Thanks for the memories, 34 ❤️ 🦌 pic.twitter.com/I0sLcecKwA
— CheeseheadTV 🧀 (@cheeseheadtv) June 23, 2026
Winning a championship is hard
How does this relate to the Green Bay Packers? Well, when the Packers had their version of Giannis in both Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, they also only won one championship in those team’s eras. All were teams led by a future Hall of Famer, who has won multiple MVPs, and there’s the thought by the media and fans that just the one title was a disappointment.
Granted, both eras of Packers football look different if there was a second or third championship won.
If say the Packers follow-up their dominant 1996 season with a win in Super Bowl XXXII. The 1996 team probably gets more credit for how dominant they were. I will get to more of that next week.
The Rodgers-led Packers also had their chance to repeat in 2011 or if they don’t meltdown in the 2014 NFC Championship game and end up winning Super Bowl XLIX two weeks later, they are winning a second championship. Or if the Packers bookend the Rodgers Era with a second championship at the end of the 2020 or 2021 seasons.
However, there are about 25 NFL championships who would have been very happy with the two championships in the last 30 years. There 11 teams who have made multiple conference championship games and/or the Super Bowl in the last 30 years with no championships to show for it.