Bucks’ Giannis third-youngest player to win MVP – ESPN

Giannis Antetokounmpo joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar because the second Milwaukee Bucks participant to purchase the Most Vital Player award. The award used to be presented on Monday at a ceremony in Los Angeles.

At factual 24 years historic, Antetokounmpo grew to was the third-youngest participant to purchase the MVP over the past 40 seasons, in the aid of Derrick Rose and LeBron James. The native of Athens, Greece, is the fifth participant born originate air of the United States to purchase MVP.

Antetokounmpo bought 78 of the 101 possible first-space votes. Houston’s James Harden came in second with the opposite 23 first-space votes. Every voter had both Antetokounmpo or Harden No. 1 or No. 2 on their ballot.

Oklahoma City’s Paul George came in third, followed by Denver’s Nikola Jokic and Golden Sigh’s Stephen Curry.

“MVP is now now not about stats and numbers. It’s all about winning and all about making obvious you scramble accessible and keep all the pieces you might perhaps perhaps moreover to purchase,” Antetokounmpo said Monday night. “I mediate that is what we did as a crew.”

Antetokounmpo said his father’s death and a recount by Kobe Bryant on Twitter to purchase MVP fueled his motivation.

“Positively Kobe, he’s the one who started that flame,” Antetokounmpo said.

Antetokounmpo averaged 27.7 functions, 12.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per recreation this season. He used to be voted a 2019 All-Megastar crew captain alongside James. He grew to was the first participant to realistic 25 functions and 10 rebounds per recreation on a crew with the league’s finest document since Shaquille O’Neal did it as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers in 1999-2000.

Antetokounmpo and the Bucks made it past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 2001. They had been indirectly eradicated in the Jap Conference finals by the Toronto Raptors.

The “Greek Freak” averaged 25.5 functions and 12.3 rebounds per recreation at some stage in in the postseason.

ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk contributed to this document.