Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks is considered the best player in the NBA for the second consecutive year. On Friday, the league announced the “Greek Freak” had won his second straight NBA MVP award, becoming the 12th player to earn the honor in consecutive seasons. He’s also the first player from Europe to become MVP multiple times.
Along with being named MVP, Antetokounmpo is also the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Yea. He joins Michael Jordan (1987-88) and Hakeem Olajuwon (1993-94) as the only players to win MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season. Antetokounmpo earned 85 of 101 first-place votes from a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters and the Kia NBA MVP Award fan vote. LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers got the other 16 first-place votes while James Harden of the Houston Rockets came in third place.
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From the start of the season up until March 11 (when the season was suspended due to the COIVD-19 pandemic), Antetokounmpo averaged 29.6 points, 13.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.04 steals and 1.02 blocks in 30.9 minutes in 57 games. He also led to Bucks to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. However, the team lost to the Miami Heat in the second round of the playoffs, which has led to some fans wondering why Antetokounmpo won the award.
“Don’t call me MVP until I’m a champion.”
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 18, 2020
Giannis is hungry for more 💪 pic.twitter.com/71BtuLaaHD
BACK-TO-BACK 🏆
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 18, 2020
—29.5 PPG
—13.6 RPG
—5.6 APG
Giannis Antetokounmpo is your 2020 NBA MVP pic.twitter.com/sXYSFqMXvK
Don’t let Giannis winning MVP distract you from the fact that Clippers blew a 3-1 lead
— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) September 18, 2020
Giannis Antetokounmpo completed a regular season in which he recorded the greatest player efficiency rating in NBA history on the team with the league’s best record. There are years when the MVP choice is difficult & controversial. This one wasn’t it.
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) September 18, 2020
The only players to win consecutive MVPs and not reach the finals in either season:
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) September 18, 2020
• Giannis Antetokounmpo
• LeBron James
• Steve Nash
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar pic.twitter.com/7D13LILieA
Giannis 2x MVP pic.twitter.com/EYxsAdUo09
— Don’t Forget Breonna Taylor🌱 (@kofxcan) September 18, 2020
LeBron seeing Giannis win MVP: pic.twitter.com/BGiCuDd17Y
— SportsNation (@SportsNation) September 18, 2020
I can live with Giannis winning MVP this year, but these years still bug me with MVP voting though… pic.twitter.com/CpnJexQaTc
— Chris Manning (@LD2K) September 18, 2020
Giannis is announced MVP:
— Joe Knows (@JoeKnowsYT) September 18, 2020
Bron tonight: pic.twitter.com/Bt0EuoD3ab
When I seen Giannis won MVP over LeBron. Not my MVP.. pic.twitter.com/x4GeFLRdCP
— JWEPP (@JWepp) September 18, 2020
Giannis’ playoff woes cause many to say he shouldn’t be MVP. Hogwash! MVP is a regular-season award! Many former MVPs have experienced disappointing postseasons the same year, including Dirk Nowitzki, D-Rose, MJ & LeBron. Like Giannis, that made them no less deserving.
— Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) September 18, 2020
.@stephenasmith believes LeBron was more deserving of winning MVP than Giannis. pic.twitter.com/3JVcYQIdpF
— First Take (@FirstTake) September 18, 2020
Congratulations @Giannis_An34 ! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/l5FfFArQY3
— Bango (@BucksBango) September 18, 2020
The Nuggets after Giannis took MVP and DPOY from AD and Lebron pic.twitter.com/j5Re73fB4u
— autocorrect (@MiceyPicey) September 18, 2020
Giannis had a monster season leading up to another MVP award 💪
— The Crossover (@TheCrossover) September 18, 2020
(via @NBATV)pic.twitter.com/FxT6gm3seQ
“And your 2019-2020 MVP is Giannis Antet-“ pic.twitter.com/Z4XNk0I4qq
— Rosa Parks’ Burner Account (@Rosasburner) September 18, 2020
Giannis can have his regular season MVP lol LeBron going for that 🏆 Finals MVP
— Lakers Empire (@LakersEmpire) September 18, 2020
Like…Giannis himself not even satisfied with nor sweating the damn award but y’all mad pressed about it.
— De (@BlqMgck) September 18, 2020
Why?
Giannis wins the 2020 MVP by 209 total points over LeBron and a huge gap in 1st-place votes: pic.twitter.com/6VNbYk6zMU
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) September 18, 2020
Harden fans yelling Giannis shouldn’t be the MVP because of the playoffs but yet believe Harden should have mutiple MVP’s ….. pic.twitter.com/oBW8p2GLxK
— 🙄💕🌎☄️ (@OprahsideClark) September 18, 2020
Giannis and his future in Milwaukee #nba #milwaukeebucks @LegsESPN for the full show click on https://t.co/OzIv3R8gtT pic.twitter.com/y57oi8SmF9
— Sergio Rodriguez (@sergiorodshow) September 18, 2020
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