Giannis Antetokounmpo Is Showing He's a Real MVP

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Photo Credit: Keith Allison (Flickr CC)

Before this season started, I was just as optimistic as the next person about the Milwaukee Bucks and believed they would be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, especially with LeBron James jolting out west to Hollywood.

With a proven new coach, a couple veteran additions and another year of growth, the expectations were high. But no one, including myself, could have foreseen the type of season that Milwaukee has put together to this point. The Bucks have unequivocally surpassed expectations and been the best team in the NBA, on paper, since day one. Having the best record with arguably the best player in the NBA should equate to the Greek Freak being the favorite to win this year’s MVP, but of course there are still plenty of doubters and naysayers in the national media that would say otherwise.

There’s no dispute that other guys like reigning MVP James Harden of the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Paul George have been tremendous in making this MVP race a lot closer than it should be, but it’s impossible to ignore just how much Giannis has meant to the Bucks success this season. You could add a couple more names to the list such as triple-double machine Nikola Jokic of the surprising 42-win Denver Nuggets along with Kevin Durant or Stephen Curry of the West leading Golden State Warriors, but this race has clearly come down to the three aforementioned names in Antetokounmpo, Harden and George.

Giannis exploded out of the gate as the favorite due to the Deer’s hot start, but after an injury to teammate Chris Paul, Harden took over the mantle by going on a ridiculous streak of scoring 30-plus points in 32 consecutive games that started with a 50-point game against the Lakers in December and only ended recently with a 28-point effort in a win over the Atlanta Hawks this past Monday night.

The Rockets went 22-11 during the streak and put themselves comfortably in the middle of the Western Conference playoff picture. It’s an incredible run to say the least, but I’m sick of this narrative that Harden should be the MVP because he scores a bunch of points every night while shooting 20-plus free throws a game and not helping much at all on defensive end of the floor. If that was the case, then it should be an award for most valuable scorer, which would have given guys like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant the MVP almost every year they played. The Beard is an offensive guru and has doubled down on his MVP season from a year ago. However, it seems a changing of the guard is in order with candidates who have taken their games to new heights on both ends of the floor.

While the MVP is an individual award, it typically goes to the player that is the clear-cut best and most valuable player on his own team first and foremost. Paul George deserves a lot of credit for the basketball player he has become since joining former MVP Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City. It took a year for him to adjust from being the number one guy for years in Indiana to having to co-exist with a ball dominant point guard in Westbrook.

He’s having the best season of his career and it’s showing with the way his team has played as a whole. As impressive as George has been, one could still argue that he is not even the most important player on his own team. No doubt Westbrook has taken a step back and deferred to George a lot this season, but he’s still a walking triple-double and undeniably the heartbeat of that team night in and night out. I’m not taking anything away from George at all and I would say he’s been better than Westbrook this season. He’s done it at both ends averaging career highs in points, assists and rebounds while leading the league in steals at 2.3 per game. But it’s hard to make definitive case for league MVP when there’s a debate as to whether he’s the most important player on his team.

That leads us to the Greek Freak, the new alpha male of the NBA and first year All-Star game captain. The former NBA Most Improved Player has made another jump this season to become one of the best two-way players—as a legitimate defensive player of the year candidate on top of being in the MVP discussion. Like George, he’s also averaging career highs in points, assists and rebounds, but it doesn’t tell you the whole story. Yes, the Freak has become an unstoppable force in the paint offensively, but he also ranks first in the league in defensive efficiency compared to George, who currently ranks 13th.

That being said, the one obvious thing that stands out the most in making Giannis’ case for MVP has to be his team’s success. The fact that the Bucks have the best record in the NBA at 47-14, while being on pace to win over 60 games, is mind-blowing to say the least. I know there’s a lot of work left to do, but I just don’t know how you can deny Giannis the MVP if this Bucks team finishes the season with the best record and number overall seed Eastern Conference.

Don’t let the national media fool you. I know that it is just one season, and I get that the playoffs are a different beast. The obvious elephant in the room is that Milwaukee is still yet to win a playoff series with this group, but I can’t stress enough how the culture has changed. Coach Mike Budenholzer has awoken a beast in Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has put the rest of the team and city on his back in what should be the first of many MVP campaigns for years to come.