Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo Wins MVP Award

On Monday in Los Angeles, Giannis Antetokounmpo won the NBA Most Valuable Player award. The 24-year joined former great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only two Milwaukee Bucks players to win the prestigious award.

The “Greek Freak” as Giannis is so affectionately known, became the third youngest to win the MVP in the last 40 years. Derrick Rose and LeBron James are the only two players who were younger.

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The Athens, Greece native also became the fifth foreign born player to win the MVP award.

Of the 101 possible first place votes, Antetokounmpo received 78. The remaining 23 first-place votes went to Houston Rockets star James Harden. All 101 voters had either Antetokounmpo or Harden as their first or second choices on the ballot.

Oklahoma City Thunder star Paul George was third, followed by Nikola Jokic from Denver and Stephen Curry from Golden State.

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On Monday, Antetokounmpo said the MVP is not just about numbers and stats; it is about winning and doing everything possible for your team to win. The Bucks’ star said the death of his father and a Kobe Bryant challenge via Twitter to win the award were the biggest motivating factors for him, adding that Kobe started that motivation.

During the regular season, Antetokounmpo averaged 27.7 points, 12.6 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game and was voted a team captain for the 2019 All-Star team along with James. During postseason play, Antetokounmpo posted averages of 25.5 points and 12.3 rebounds per game.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and his Bucks’ teammates made it through the first round of the postseason for just the first time in 18 years but were eliminated by the Toronto Raptors in the finals of the Eastern Conference.