The last three past NBA seasons have been incredible for Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has collected plenty of silverware thanks to his impressive performances on the court. The Milwaukee Bucks superstar leaves his everything on both sides of the court, becoming one of the premier names in the NBA.
Right now, he’s a 2x NBA MVP, 1x DPOY winner, 1x NBA champion, and 1x Finals MVP, among other things. However, Giannis knows those awards are part of the past, and he keeps going, trying to get better and achieve more things with his team.
After a couple of months where Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant led the MVP race, the Greek Freak has taken over, relegating the Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets superstars to a second tier, becoming the clear leader in the 2022 MVP award race.
If that wasn’t enough, Giannis keeps climbing positions on the DPOY ladder, and this month, the player has surpassed two competitors to sit atop NBA.com’s latest ranking. The last time the list was published, he wasn’t even ranked. Now, Giannis ranks 1st, above Rudy Gobert and Draymond Green.
Steve Aschburner credits Giannis’ efforts on the less elegant side of the ball even when teammates went down with injuries, which forced him to have a bigger role when stopping rivals.
Just as Antetokounmpo steadily climbed the MVP Ladder, he has moved up this one as well. Statistically, his numbers are solid but don’t leap off the screen – 10.1 contested shots per game, 1.6 deflections, opponents shooting 3.9% worse when guarded by him, and so on – but that’s not unlike Draymond Green with Golden State. And Kerr considers Green the NBA’s best defender, maybe ever. Especially with center Brook Lopez sidelined by back surgery, it’s unnerving to think what Milwaukee’s defense might look like this season if not for Antetokounmpo’s multi-faceted impact.
Giannis is only the third player in NBA history to win the MVP and DPOY award in the same season. He could do it for the second time this campaign, achieving something nobody else has done before.
That explains how dominant Giannis has been on both ends of the court. The 27-year-old is always hungry no matter what he does. It’s not enough for him to win a championship last year. He wants to win as much a possible and he’s putting a huge effort into it this season. The Bucks currently rank 5th in the Eastern Conference rankings, but Giannis knows that top of the standings isn’t that far away.
He keeps showing his quality every night and Milwaukee is happy to have this player on the roster. He could do something unthinkable at the end of the regular season, but we need to sit and wait if Antetokounmpo keeps this level and can win both prizes when everything is said and done.
