Milwaukee Bucks: Looking ahead to potentially momentous NBA Awards

Most Valuable Player

Hyped up over the course of the season as one of the most closely fought races the award has seen in years, the debate will be settled once and for all on Monday night.

In truth, it seems as if some clarity has already emerged in recent months as the voters who’ve publicly revealed their ballots largely seemed to lean toward Antetokounmpo. If that aligns with the wider voting body in the final results, Giannis could yet win his first MVP award by a sizable margin.

Undoubtedly the odd man out among the three finalists is Paul George, whose play tailed off down the stretch as the Thunder went tumbling down the standings. Even James Harden, the reigning MVP and Antetokounmpo’s main rival for this year’s award suffered minor signs of slippage down the stretch, though.

In the end, that could be what seals the win for the Bucks’ superstar. Of the three, he was undeniably the most consistent from Game 1-82, he led his team to the best record of the bunch, and he did so while performing at a truly elite level on both ends of the floor. Sure, Antetokounmpo didn’t have Harden’s exhilarating and historic scoring outbursts but, unlike Harden, his reputation as one of the league’s best scorers was married with the equivalent status on the defensive end.

At this point, it would be a major upset if Antetokounmpo didn’t join Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as just the second Milwaukee Bucks player to claim the NBA’s most prestigious individual honor, giving the franchise its fourth MVP win overall.

All will be revealed just a few hours from now, but it’s all set up to be a night to remember for the Milwaukee Bucks and their fans.