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Milwaukee Bucks All-Star and the reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo is averaging 30.0 points, 13.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists while shooting 30.9 percent from behind the arc per game through 49 games for the Bucks. Antetokounmpo has the Bucks with the league’s best record in the league at 47-8 the closest, while the Los Angeles Lakers have the second-best record in the league with a 41-12 record thus far.
Last August, former NBA veteran Gilbert Arenas shared with me that he didn’t think Giannis should have won the MVP award last season.
“I’m just going to be blunt, I don’t think he should have won it this year,” Arenas told me.
“The reason I say that is because he averaged 27 and ten last year and 27 and 12 this year and shot worse from the free-throw line this season. His impact didn’t do anything. It’s the team I felt got better. They add depth to their roster with Lopez and other offensive pieces to help spread the floor,” said Arenas. “Giannis didn’t do anything different, while the team got better, and they won more games. That shouldn’t be the criteria for MVP.”
Gilbert Arenas spent eight years with the Washington Wizards and was named an All-Star on three separate occasions. He also went toe to toe against LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers and came up short in the playoffs during James’ first stint with the Cavaliers.
However, NBA Legend Isiah Thomas disagrees and from a winning standpoint, he felt Antetokounmpo deserve to be named the 2018-19 MVP over former MVP James Harden. If he had to pick just one player this past May.
“From the regular season, I thought Harden had another great season, and he did things that another hasn’t done in a while. Giannis also had a great regular season, but from a winning standpoint, I always go with the winner,” Thomas told me. “This is not a knock on the season that Harden had, but what Giannis did from a winning standpoint to me he would get my vote. It would only be by a very slim margin because you can make an argument for of them and they could be Co-MVPs, but if I had to pick just one, I would have to give it to Giannis this year.”
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Max Kellerman Thinks the Greek Freak is a Lock for MVP This Year
On Friday’s episode of ESPN’s First Take host, Molly Qerim Rose asked Max Kellerman if he thought Giannis Antetokounmpo was a lock for this year’s MVP award at this point?
“Yes, Giannis Antetokounmpo has it wrapped up unless he gets hurt or something like that and knock wood that doesn’t happen. You just said that he is averaging 30 points and 13.5 rebounds, to go along with 6 assists and a steal and a block. And Molly, he is doing it in 31 minutes a game as the only superstar on a team that by far has the best record in the league, stone-cold lock, said” Kellerman.
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