3 best Milwaukee Bucks of calendar year 2019
By Jordan Foote
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo
Not too many NBA teams can say they have a top-10 player on their roster. The Milwaukee Bucks are certainly one of them, though.
Giannis Antetokounnpo cemented his status as one of the league’s elite last season, winning the 2018-19 NBA MVP award. He was instrumental in the success of the Bucks, posting one of the most eye-popping stat lines in the history of basketball:
- 27.7 points per game
- 12.5 rebounds per game
- 5.9 rebounds per game
- 57.8 field goal percentage
- 1.5 blocks per game
Although Antetokounnmpo’s production slipped a bit in the postseason, he did his best to keep Milwaukee afloat and put up a solid fight against the eventual NBA champions. He didn’t leave a ton of room for improvement ahead of the 2019-20 campaign, but in the first third of the season, he’s been nothing short of brilliant.
How brilliant? Try 31.7 points, 12.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists. That’s Antetokounmpo’s average stat line this season. The difference: a significant rise in 3-point attempts. The Bucks’ star player has hoisted up 5.1 3s per game in 2019-20, a far cry from the 2.8 attempts he averaged the season before.
While he’s canning just 32.1 percent of them, this increase makes Antetokounmpo a threat from literally anywhere on the court, which is important.
Next. Each team’s best NBA Jam duo of all time. dark
Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton have both played integral roles in Milwaukee’s recent success, but Antetokounmpo has been the team’s best player — and by a huge margin.