3 reasons Giannis Antetokounmpo should win his third MVP this season
By Max Griffith
No. 2 – Voter fatigued has clouded Giannis Antetokounmpo’s fantastic season
It is crazy this subject has to be brought up for a player as good as Giannis Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo is 27 years old and already receives the most voter fatigue for the MVP award in the entire league.
As we all know, Giannis won back-to-back MVP awards in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. He then followed up those MVP seasons averaging 28.1 points, 5.9 assists, and 11 rebounds per game. Antetokounmpo performed better in every stat besides rebounding last season than he did in his first MVP season.
Now, Giannis is averaging the most points per game of his career and his team is now 2.5 games back for the top seed, even after players coming in and out of the lineup all season. Now that we have a sense of the numbers Giannis puts up and how good his team is performing, let’s compare Giannis Antetokounmpo to the other two frontrunners.
Joel Embiid has led his team to third in the Eastern Conference this season, just two games behind Milwaukee. He is averaging 29.9 points on 48.5 percent shooting from the field while grabbing 11.3 rebounds and offering 4.3 assists per game. Embiid is just barely beating Antetokounmpo for the scoring champion title, but he plays more minutes, attempts more free throws, and attempts more shots per game. The stats are not extremely far off between Embiid and Antetokounmpo, but voter fatigue comes into play here.
From looking at these stats, you learn that Antetokounmpo is doing everything Embiid has done offensively, and he also is the frontrunner for DPOY. Not much else to say here. The other leading candidate is Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets. Again, Jokic averages 26 points, 13.8 rebounds, and 8.1 assists per game. He is putting up magnificent stats for a center, especially the assists. Jokic has led the Nuggets to sixth in the West without two very important starters. This makes the race between Antetokounmpo and Jokic in my opinion. Like the Embiid situation, you have to remember here that the Greek Freak is also putting up mind-boggling numbers on offense, while also being the front runner for DPOY on one of the best teams in the league.