The MVP, the final award left in the season to give, is dedicated to the league’s most valuable player. There seems to be two front runners this year, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo. One is an ageless generational talent and the other is nicknamed the Greek Freak, which is really all you need to know about him. Narratives often play a huge role in these end-of-season awards, and this holds true for the MVP as well. But it’s important to remember that this is strictly a regular season award.
Runner Up: LeBron James
Look, you can highlight the fact that LeBron is 35 and this is his 17th year of utter excellence. He averaged 25-10-7, leading the league in assists for the first time ever. He led his team to the number one seed in the Western Conference, and is still a solid team defender. But although several NBA players have voiced support for LeBron to win the award, I have to disagree. There’s just one person who had a better regular season, and his name is Giannis.
MVP: Giannis Antetokounmpo
Look, I get it. The entire world has seen the Greek Freak fall apart in the playoffs, losing to the 5th seed in just the second round of the playoffs. You can argue how his lack of an outside shot doomed his team against the Miami Heat. But we can’t forget about the historic regular season he had. Giannis dominated the NBA during the regular season, leading his team to the number one seed in the East as well as the entire NBA. He was also deemed the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year. Him winning the award might have been arguable, but the most jaw-dropping part of his season was that he ONLY played 30 minutes a game this season. To put this into perspective, 6th Man of the Year runner-up Dennis Schröder played 30.8 minutes this season. To put up the stats Giannis did this year - 30 minutes. 29 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists - is something that is truly historic and utterly mind-boggling. Consider this: if Giannis had played 36 minutes a game, he’d have averaged 35 points, 16 rebounds and 6 assists. That’s pure dominance.
Now, given Giannis’s disappointing playoff performance, winning this award would seem very strange. But don’t let that detract from what was truly an amazing regular season.
Without question, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the 2019-2020 season is Giannis Antetokounmpo.