Milwaukee Bucks: What Giannis Antetokounmpo must do to win MVP
By Robby Cowles
Have a career-best season
Last season, Giannis put together a ridiculous stat-line over a season that included 26 points, 10 rebounds and nearly five assists per game. Production-wise, it was close to as good as a season gets for an NBA player.
Unfortunately, the 23-year-old is going to have to top it this year. Generally, MVP voters like to reward players who are playing at the very top of their game. For example, Michael Jordan should have won the MVP award more than just five times.
Why didn’t he? Well, voter fatigue is a factor, but voters like to see improvement, players playing at the apex of their ability. If there’s any kind of plateau, voters can get bored and look at other players who surprised with their overachievement.
It’s why the MVP award has gone to players like Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Stephen Curry recently. Were they the definite best player in the league?
LeBron James and Kevin Durant are probably the two best players in the league the past four seasons, but have zero MVP awards to show for it. The MVP award is clearly not about being the best player, it’s more about having the best season.
Voters want to see players at the peak of their talents. Giannis is going to have to show that he’s gotten better over the last year. Whether that be in scoring, defense, passing or shooting.
It’s going to be difficult because, I mean, how much more can Giannis do? But, it doesn’t have to be a drastic increase. Bumping his points up to 28 per game and his assists to over five a game would be enough to fulfill this requirement.
Likely, an improvement in his shooting percentages would help sway MVP voters to his cause. Speaking of which, the next thing Giannis must do to win MVP is…