Milwaukee Bucks: Can Giannis Antetokounmpo win the 2018-19 MVP award?

Milwaukee Bucks’ superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is having an incredible start to his 2018-19 campaign, but will the stars align enough for The Greak Freak to win MVP?

In case you have been living under a rock the past few years, Giannis Antetokounmpo is really good at basketball. After becoming a surefire star two years ago, Giannis hasn’t shown signs of slowing down in the 2018-19 season. The Greek Freak is currently averaging 25.8 points, 13.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game, and has the Milwaukee Bucks of to an 8-2 start in the new NBA season.

Some major accolades have come along with these great couple of seasons. Not only has he been an All-Star the past two years, but Antetokounmpo has also been named to the All-NBA Second Team in back-to-back seasons.

Another honor that most don’t realize is that Giannis ended up just outside the top-five in MVP voting last year. While his 75 MVP voter points doesn’t really compare to James Harden‘s winning 965 points, it was still a great accomplishment for a 23-year-old. Not to mention, he beat former MVP Kevin Durant out by one point and was just one point behind reigning MVP Russell Westbrook.

Fast-forward to the beginning of this season, and now Giannis is looking like an MVP frontrunner. With the Bucks hot start (and with several other MVP candidates’ teams floundering), Giannis seems to have a good chance to win the award this year. I mean this literally too, with Odds Shark giving Antetokounmpo +325 odds of winning MVP, the best of any player in the entire league.

While Giannis has a chance of earning MVP at the end of the season, there are several other factors that are going to play into him actually winning it. The most obvious is that the Greek Freak has to keep up his stellar play. His 25.8 points per game is very solid, but inflated scoring this year has this mark just barely in the top-10 averages this year. Scoring isn’t the only important stat, but let’s be honest, it’s a big one.

A better team is also key for Giannis’ MVP chances. While MVP is a individual award, history shows that candidates with better teams have better chances. Of all of the MVP awards given out in recent decades, essentially all of them have been on title-contending teams — except for Russell Westbrook’s MVP campaign, but when you average a triple-double on the season, circumstances change.

Giannis’ Bucks have been solid for a couple years, but they are legit contenders in the Eastern Conference this year. They have already beaten the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers. If they continue this success and secure a top-three or top-four seed, Giannis’ MVP chances will rise.