Milwaukee Bucks of America sensation, Giannis Adetokunbo (Antetokounmpo) is in the spotlight for an unprecedented third straight title as most valuable player in USA’s National Basketball Association (NBA) league, megasportsarena.com reports.
This is the verdict of a leading basketball analyst, Huw Hopkins, who took a look at Antetokounmpo’s latest figures of the season and reckoned that there is a strong possibility of the Nigerian-born Greece international being named MVP for the third season on the bounce.
The basketball guru stated in his column for Sky Sports, as he noted that answers are looming over the question: Will Giannis Antetokounmpo win a third consecutive MVP trophy? and then opined that The Bucks are probably better set to make a deeper run in the NBA playoffs this season.
Hopkins added: “Giannis Antetokounmpo is averaging 28 points per game this season, the second best of his career, as well as 11 rebounds, a career-high six assists, a block and a steal, while posting his second best effective field goal percentage ever.
“The numbers alone are MVP worthy, and they suggest he is a top-three contender for the award, according to Basketball Reference. But you can pretty much guarantee he will not win it.
“You see, ‘The Greek Freak’ is old news. He is a 26-year-old has-been. We have seen it all before from him. In particular, we have seen him post similar numbers in previous seasons, when he won back-to-back MVP trophies – last year and the season before. Past it.
“The problem for Antetokounmpo is that the MVP award – as much as old, grumpy basketball heads like to claim advanced analytics is taking over the game – is led by narrative. Yes, there are a few statistical categories that players typically top when they win the trophy, but it is not a science.
“There is no 2 + 2 = 4 going on here. And that is what makes it so fun to debate each season. There are no formulas, boxes to tick nor numbers to reach to automatically receive the award. They help, but that is not all of it. It comes down to something more intuitive. A gut feeling.
“And Antetokounmpo knows this. In 2018-19, his points, rebounds and assists all increased. His Value Over Replacement Players took a step forward, his Box Plus Minus took a giant leap and his Win Shares went into outer space.
“But the story of that season was how LeBron James left the Eastern Conference to join the LA Lakers, and suffered the first major injury of his career.
“The Denver Nuggets surprised a lot of teams to finish second in the west. Paul George had the best season of his career and possibly could have won it had he not suffered a few injuries towards the end of the season. Which left James Harden of the Houston Rockets and Antetokounmpo.
“The difference was that Antetokounmpo catapulted his team towards the best record in the league, whereas Harden only managed to lead his team to fourth in an admittedly strong Western Conference.
“‘The Beard’ had also already won the trophy and threatened to win it for several seasons, but he kept falling short of doing anything on the biggest stage. People were getting tired of seeing him post amazing numbers in the regular season while the Rockets could not reach the Finals.”
