Giannis third-youngest to win MVP in 40 years
Giannis Antetokounmpo joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar because the second Milwaukee Bucks participant to win the Most Beneficial Participant award. The award was introduced on Monday at a ceremony in Los Angeles.
At simply 24 years outdated, Antetokounmpo grew to become the third-youngest participant to win the MVP over the previous 40 seasons, behind Derrick Rose and LeBron James. The Athens, Greece, native is the fifth participant born outdoors of america to win MVP.
Antetokounmpo obtained 78 of the 100 attainable first-place votes. Houston’s James Harden got here in second with the opposite 23 first-place votes. Each voter had both Antetokounmpo or Harden No. 1 or No. 2 on their poll.
1 Associated
Oklahoma Metropolis’s Paul George got here in third, adopted by Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Golden State’s Stephen Curry.
“MVP shouldn’t be about stats and numbers… it’s all about profitable and all about ensuring you go on the market and do the whole lot you’ll be able to to win,” Antetokounmpo stated Monday evening. “I feel that’s what we did as a staff.”
Antetokounmpo stated that his father’s dying and a problem by Kobe Bryant on Twitter to win MVP fueled his motivation.
“Positively Kobe, he’s the one which began that flame,” Antetokounmpo stated.
Antetokounmpo averaged 27.7 factors, 12.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per recreation this season. He was voted a 2019 All-Star staff captain alongside James. He grew to become the primary participant to common 25 factors and 10 rebounds per recreation on a staff with the league’s finest file since Shaquille O’Neal did it as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1999-2000.
Antetokounmpo and the Bucks made it previous the primary spherical of the playoffs for the primary time since 2001. They have been ultimately eradicated within the Japanese Convention finals by the Toronto Raptors.
The “Greek Freak” averaged 25.5 factors and 12.three rebounds per recreation throughout within the postseason.
ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this report.