Nobody has such a significant impact on both sides of the ball.
Let me paint you a picture. Imagine that you are a general manager in the NBA and were just asked by Adam Silver (the league commissioner) to start a brand-new NBA team in your hometown. In addition, he has asked you to assemble a winning roster for the coming season. To help you with this quest, he will allow you to pick any player in the league to boost your roster.
Your mind might race to thoughts of LeBron James or Kevin Durant or the prospects of having Kawhi Leonard or Steph Curry on your team.
But if you want to create a winning franchise that will be relevant for a long time, you would choose Giannis Antetokounmpo. He is the most valuable player in the NBA and should get recognition by winning the MVP award again this season.
I grew up watching players like LeBron James and Kevin Durant. I saw their dominance on the court, and they seemed, to me, invincible at times. They have captured the love and attention of basketball fans around the world. However, while they may have been some of the best players the sport has ever seen, that is no longer true. Although they are both highly regarded players, they are aging, and it shows. Currently, James and Durant are 38 and 34 years old, respectively. They have both had great runs in their career, but even the average fan will tell you they aren’t what they once were. Just take a look at their hairlines. They tell the whole story.
The face of the league is changing, and Giannis Antetokounmpo has emerged as the household icon of the game. Over the past five years alone, he has won back-to-back MVPs, a defensive player of the year award, won a championship with the Bucks, nabbed the Finals MVP award, and made five all-star appearances (named All-Star team captain three times). Those accomplishments are unprecedented in the modern NBA.
Winning the MVP and defensive player of the year award in the same year has only been done two other times. Giannis is carrying the Bucks to new heights without another superstar on the roster.
Despite all of Giannis’s achievements, it seems as though the MVP award has become more of a social achievement than an award for being the most valued player in basketball. For the last two years, the MVP award has been won by Nikola Jokic. I don’t want to take anything away from what he has done; he is an incredible player and deserves recognition and praise for his game.
But, on the flip side, how many people would pick him first above all other players when creating their brand-new NBA team as general manager? The answer is probably no one—or very, very few. That alone says that he is not the most valuable player; he is simply the most popular player of that year.
This trend of voting for a fan favorite rather than the best basketball player has been going on for years. We should stop treating the MVP award as a certificate given to the player who got the most likes on social media or give the award to the player we think may be the new upcoming star of the league. I believe the MVP award still deserves to be in the hands of the person who makes the biggest difference when he is on the court and helps their team to win.
Giannis! (photo courtesy NBA.com)
Granted, like every other player, there are definitive gaps in Giannis’s game. For example, you would not trust him with a game-tying three like you would trust Steph Curry to deliver. He also does not have the best handles and is not the best in the league at creating plays for his teammates.
I will say this, though, despite his shortcomings, he still posts incredible stat lines in every category. This season, he averages 32.2 points PPG off 54% shooting, 12.4 rebounds per game, and 5.3 assists. His team was thriving and ranked very highly in the Eastern Conference while he was achieving such stat lines.
It is very rare to see a combination of someone that puts up those kinds of numbers while being focused on helping his team win. It is more common to see someone so focused on getting the individual stats that it hinders the team. That means Giannis has an “us” mentality instead of the more selfish “me” focus. He looks out for his team and fills whatever role he needs to help his team win. He does all that while demonstrating his efficiency in scoring and playing top-notch defense.
So I ask you: Is anyone else as ultimately unstoppable as Giannis? Is anyone else that an opposing team would dread to play more? Does anyone have such a significant impact on both sides of the ball? If you find one, let me know who that is.
In the meantime, Giannis has my vote for MVP 2022-23.
