Giannis Antetokounmpo
Preseason prediction: Will win the 2019 NBA MVP award
Verdict: TBD, although extremely possible
I’ll admit that, at the time, this wasn’t that “bold” of a prediction. Giannis, with a new coach, system and surrounding talent, was being picked by numerous experts and analysts as an MVP favorite.
In my defense, what higher accomplishment can you predict for a player? Unfortunately, the NBA is still trying to make the whole “awards show” thing work so we have to wait until June 24 to find out who the MVP is.
I miss the days where the NBA would just announce the winner like the day after the season ended, they’d have a nice little press conference so we could just focus on the playoffs instead of having the question lingering over the entire postseason.
I can’t officially say I was right with this prediction, but I’m going to give myself a little credit in predicting the Giannis would have an MVP-caliber season.
In fact, if James Harden wasn’t having the best offensive season by a player since Michael Jordan, Giannis would almost definitely have this locked up.
Giannis has done everything that I predicted he needed to do to take home the award by taking his game to another level on both ends of the court while leading the Bucks to the elite of the NBA.
I will also deduct points for myself, though, as I said it was unlikely that Harden could win the MVP award again this season. I am honest and will admit my many faults, that take being one of them.
We won’t know if this prediction is correct for a while, so we’ll call it a push for now.
Running tally: 0/0, 1 push