The Greek Freak’s ‘Freakish’ Season
In just 4 years Giannis Antetokounmpo has went from a risky draft pick to a full on superstar, and has made a legitimate case for MVP this year. Through 46 games Giannis is averaging 28.2 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 4.6 apg, 1.5 spg, 1.3 bpg, leading his team in all 5 major stats. Last year Giannis become the only player to ever lead his team in all 5 major stats and has a serious chance of repeating that feat. Giannis was also selected to his second consecutive all-star game and was the second leading vote getter right behind LeBron James and above Steph Curry and Kevin Durant. There is no doubt that Giannis is beginning to make a name for himself (even if you can’t pronounce it) and will be among the league’s elite players for years to come.
Kobe Bryant, a name that is widely renowned as one of the best basketball players of all time, also has had a big part in the explosive season for Antetokounmpo. At the start of the season Giannis tweeted at Kobe and asked for a challenge from the NBA great. Kobe replied back tweeting “MVP” and nothing else. The challenge was clear and Giannis chose to respond with his exceptional play this year. Kobe was very famous for his “mamba mentality” and he credits his success to the way he approached the game and has said multiple times over that he sees the same killer instinct in the young forward in Milwaukee.
We can add both Kevin Durant and LeBron James to Giannis’ list of superstar supporters. Kevin Durant was interviewed earlier in the year and was asked about the rising stardom of Giannis he said “He could end up being the best player to ever play if he really wanted to.” That is some pretty high praise from someone who is widely regarded as the second best player in the world and a former MVP himself. When LeBron was asked about the MVP candidacy of Giannis he responded by saying “he has the skillset, he has the talent and he has a great coach that can help him get to that point.” This praise is coming from a 4 time MVP, 3 time NBA champion, and arguably the greatest player to ever play in the NBA. If players of this magnitude believe in Giannis like this already at the age of 22 then thinking about the potential of Giannis is a scary thought for every team he is going to face.
The one knock on Giannis’ MVP voting is that he has led his team to a less-than-stellar record of 24-22. The bucks currently sit at the 6th seed in the eastern conference, but that record has hopes of being much better after the bucks get their budding forward Jabari Parker back off his ACL injury. Before he went down he was averaging 20 ppg and had developed some serious chemistry with Giannis and the rest of the Bucks roster. All that said, even if the bucks don’t get any better than the 6th seed I believe this shouldn’t affect his eligibility for the MVP award, because last year’s MVP winner was Russell Westbrook and he lead his team to the 6th seed in the western conference. So, if Westbrook can win the MVP as a 6th seed then Giannis should be able to do the same.
In conclusion, this season is special for Giannis for many reasons, but maybe none more powerful than the fact that Giannis’ father passed right before the start of the season at the age of 54. Giannis has completely dedicated this season to his father. This is one of the main forces behind his phenomenal run this year and will continue to motivate and push Giannis to his potential. After everything this young man has been through and overcome combined with the fact he was voted as the most fun player to watch, it’s almost impossible to not root for this guy. There it is, my case for Giannis’ MVP candidacy
