Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo is putting up Hall of Fame numbers
Antetokounmpo is no run-of-the-mill MVP. A season ago he defeated the great James Harden to win his first MVP award, and this year he’s even surpassing his production compared to last.
At the All-Star break, Giannis is averaging 30 points (up from 27.7), 13.5 rebounds (up from 12) and 5.8 assists (a slight dip from 5.9). He’s doing this while playing just 30.9 minutes per game, which is 72nd in the NBA.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is putting up historic MVP numbers while playing fewer minutes per game than a Sixth Man of the Year candidate like Dennis Schroder, and he’s doing this because the Milwaukee Bucks are blasting teams off the court so quickly he doesn’t have to play fourth quarters.
That’s right, Giannis is 96th in the NBA in fourth quarter minutes played, averaging just 7.6 per game.
Giannis got the Orlando crowd hype... #FearTheDeer pic.twitter.com/MEZo0n9DnW
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) February 8, 2020
Imagine the numbers he’d put up if his team wasn’t so good they were putting teams away shortly after halftime.
In Shaquille O’Neal‘s own words, he is Giannis Antetokounmpo’s best statistical comparison (although they are drastically different players). Shaq passed on the mantle, knowing Giannis was poised to blow by his numbers eventually, but their age-to-age comparisons are remarkable.
Between the ages of 23 and 25 (Antetokounmpo’s current age), O’Neal averaged 27.1 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Over this same stretch, representing the last three years of Antetokounmpo’s career, Giannis is averaging 27.9 points, 11.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists.
It’s a very different game and if there’s one lesson we should learn it’s to appreciate greatness, so this is not to diminish Shaquille O’Neal, but to recognize the generational talent before our eyes that is Giannis Antetokounmpo.