Most Valuable Player
This season, the race for the league’s most coveted individual award has been something special. Unprecedented team success is not enough to gain a spot on the ballot, while superhuman individual accomplishment is enough to blow the mind.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is having an inspired two-way season for the Milwaukee Bucks. He is the team’s primary ball-handler and scorer on offense. On defense, he shifts between locking down opposing wings to banging around in the paint with bruising centers.
The easiest way to highlight how important Antetokounmpo is to his team is to look at the stats. Giannis leads the Milwaukee Bucks in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks per game.
Again. Antetokounmpo leads his team in every single major statistical box score category. Every single one.
These are not just low-ball numbers that happen to lead a team where the remainder of the stats are spread out over a number of players, either. For the season Antetokounmpo is putting up 23.1 points per game, 8.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game. Only six other players have ever averaged those numbers over a single season: Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Antoine Walker, Chris Webber and Russell Westbrook this year.
Behind the Buck Pass
Add in Antetokounmpo’s 1.7 steals per game, and we lose Kareem and Webber. Of the remaining players, only Larry Bird ever broke one block per game in such a season, with 1.2 blocks during the 1984-85 season. Antetokounmpo is averaging 1.9 blocks per game.
The season that the “Greek Freak” is having is unprecedented, quite literally. Add in the force he provides on defense and how the team around him has been constantly shifting, and his ability to lead this team to the playoffs should be recognized.
The MVP race is a hotly contested one, and rightfully so. The top four of the ballot are already filled out, in some order. For this writer, Russell Westbrook’s combination of workload, clutch performance and jaw-dropping statistics give him the top spot.
Behind him, James Harden led the Houston Rockets to the third seed while playing a ridiculous amount of minutes and missing only one game. Simply being available provided his team with significant value, and his efficiency, offensive creativity and numbers that would shock the league in any other season earn him second.
LeBron James proved he was the best player in the world in last season’s Finals, but he has not played like it this season. He has taken games off, played lackluster defense and the Cleveland Cavaliers have struggled at times. All of this is true, and yet James is averaging 26-8-8 and has rediscovered his three-pointer. He is third on the ballot.
Kawhi Leonard is the fourth musketeer in the race, putting up tremendous numbers on a team that is once again exceeding expectations. Leonard has always been known for his defense, but is by far the best offensive player on a 60-win team. But for sheer regular season impact he falls short by way of total minutes, as he has rested a number of games as part of the Spurs’ plan to rule the world.
That leaves the fifth and final spot on the MVP ballot up for the taking. Kevin Durant was in the mix prior to his leg injury, and Stephen Curry’s strong play since that injury has placed him there with other voters. Isaiah Thomas is having one of the best high-volume offensive seasons in NBA history. John Wall is a two-way fiend on another of the league’s surprise teams.
But Giannis Antetokounmpo deserves that spot, as this season is one to be remembered. The combination of ways he fills up the box score is unprecedented, and he is leading his team in every way. If that is not valuable, then the word needs to be redefined.
Verdict: Giannis Antetokounmpo is 5th on the ballot