NBA: Top 10 candidates for 2018-19 MVP award

2. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

Team success could easily hold Giannis Antetokounmpo back in the polls, but don’t forget, for the first month or so of the 2017-18 season, he was the clear MVP frontrunner. That’s a small sample size, but the lack of a supporting cast and floor-spacers eventually took a toll on him. That may not be an issue in 2018-19.

With Mike Budenholzer on board, the Milwaukee Bucks have secured a basketball mastermind who not only devised 3-point heavy offenses with the Atlanta Hawks, but also made them consistently tough to score against on the defensive end. Milwaukee was already a top-10 offense last year, but improving that 17th-ranked defense will be a boon to their win totals.

Bud’s Hawks teams found great success until the organization decided to tank, but he never had a superstar talent like the Greek Freak. With shooters like Brook Lopez and Ersan Ilyasova spacing the floor, plus all that length on the defensive end, Bud has the pieces to make Giannis one of the league’s deadliest two-way forces.

There’s also the possibility Antetokounmpo takes another natural, giant-sized leap forward again all on his own. He just posted 26.9 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game in his age-23 season, after all, and that was with two incompetent coaches at the helm. If the Bucks can secure a top-four seed in the East, he might post gaudy enough numbers to seriously challenge for his first MVP award.