Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s staying in place on the NBA MVP Ladder has very little to do with what he’s done as he continues to exceed last year’s numbers despite playing the fewest minutes of any of the top five contenders for the award so far this season.
Over his last 13 games (he sat out the Milwaukee Bucks’ win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Dec. 11), Antetokounmpo has averaged 33.7 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.0 blocks in just 29.3 minutes per game, shooting 56.4 percent overall.
But the terrifying prospect for the rest of the NBA is this: The Greek Freak has his 38.2 percent on 5.8 3-point attempts a night over this stretch. A Giannis that must be defended and respected at the 3-point line? Yeah, that will move him from merely extraordinarily difficult to guard to absolute “you have got to be kidding” territory.
On the season, Antetokounmpo is putting up 31.8 points, 12.8 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.2 blocks in 31.3 minutes per game, shooting 56.5 percent overall and 33.8 percent on 5.2 deep attempts a night.
The scoring and rebounding are at a career-high pace and his 3-point shooting is not far off the 41-for-118 (34.7 percent) he made as a rookie, only with much more volume. Add all of that to him also finishing at the rim at a 79.5 percent clip (also on pace for a career high) and he’s virtually unstoppable. Per 36 minutes this season? Try 36.5 points and 14.7 boards a night.
Antetokounmpo is second in the league in scoring and seventh in rebounding, with the highest usage rate and most win shares per 48 minutes in the NBA.