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It is just the beginning of the new basketball season in the NBA but one man has been making waves in the Eastern Conference.
Giannis Antetokounmpo hails from Athens, Greece, is 6 feet 11 inches tall, 242 pounds and has the most incredible vertical in the league at the moment. He is arguably, the most athletic player in the NBA. Being just 24 years old, the 'Greek Freak' as he is popularly known, has a vast amount of experience already in the league.
Into his 5th season in the NBA, the 13th pick of the 2013 NBA Draft has been lighting up the basketball world. After earning his first call-up to the NBA All-Star team, as a starter in 2017, Antetokounmpo has made that spot his own as he made it to the starting line-up once again, last season and it definitely does not look like this will be changing soon.
Giannis is already one of the early leaders in the race for this season's MVP award. He has been leading his Milwaukee Bucks team in every way possible just as he has been for the last few seasons, now.
His stats back up all the hype. The Greek Freak is currently averaging 26.1 PPG, 13.7 RPG and 5.1 APG. He is also averaging 1.4 BLK so far this season. Antetokounmpo has been highly efficient from the field. His FG% stands at 52.
The Milwaukee Bucks currently have the best record in the league. They were handed their first loss of the season at the hands of the Boston Celtics, after having notched up wins in all of their first 7 games. The Bucks finished 7th in the regular season, last year, to end up making the playoffs.
Giannis carried his team at the time as well with support all around in the relatively thin Bucks roster. Milwaukee will be looking to better last season's record and try to finish higher in the conference.
Antetokounmpo really shined in the first round of the 2018 Playoffs, as the Bucks managed to push the Boston Celtics to a game 7, where the Celtics just about, managed to pull off a victory in the series.
Over the 7 games, Giannis averaged 25.7 PPG, 9.6 RPG and 6.3 APG as he shot 57% from the field in 40 minutes per game. Truly outstanding numbers for a young 23 year old at the time.
What is terrifying about this is that Giannis seems to have only become better. He looks stronger and has all the moves buttoned down on the offensive end of the floor. Not to mention he trained with the Mamba, Kobe Bryant during the offseason. His incredible jumping and dunking ability makes him a nightmare for opposing defenders.
It is Antetokounmpo's dream to bring a Championship to Milwaukee. What makes Giannis even better is the drive to succeed. He is determined to stay loyal to the team that drafted him and has not fallen prey to greener pastures in hopes of winning an NBA ring. Players with loyalty like him are truly rare to find in the league nowadays.
As Giannis looks to become a perennial All-Star, he will also want to stamp his authority in the East and become a major force that will be able to attract a star or two to the Bucks in a bid of winning just the franchise's second-ever NBA Championship. Their only win came in 1971.
Antetokounmpo just keeps improving as a player. He won the NBA Most Improved Player award in 2017. He also made the All-NBA Second Team in 2017 and 2018 as he will now look to make it into the All-NBA First Team for the first time in his career. The sky is the limit for the young man from Athens.
But as good as he has been so far this season, one cannot ignore the competition for the NBA's most coveted individual prize. Giannis will be going up against the likes of the King, LeBron James, last year's MVP, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, to just name a few of the many who would like to stake a claim for the award.
In terms of PPG, Giannis currently ranks 13th in the league but in rebounding, he is 4th in the entire NBA. He is 5th in the league for double-doubles per game and 13th overall in terms of points, rebounds and assists. The numbers do not show the whole picture though.
As per the numbers, one can definitely argue that the Greek Freak falls short of being mentioned in the talk for the MVP award but he did manage to finish 6th in the MVP race last season and with the strong start for the Bucks, it will be hard to leave him out of the conversation. Antetokounmpo is currently ranked 6th in the league in terms of efficiency.
The biggest threat to Giannis' claim to MVP will be Anthony Davis as he will try to lead his Pelicans team deep into the Playoffs. Davis leads the league in terms of efficiency. Steph Curry of the champions, Golden State Warriors, LeBron James, Philadelphia's Joel Embiid and perennial All-Star, Kevin Durant are all ahead of the Greek star as well.
Giannis is known to be a team player and the pressure of being tipped to win MVP will not affect the way he approaches the game. The road for Giannis Antetokounmpo is going to be extremely difficult ahead to win the NBA MVP award but that will not be on his mind at the moment. The only focus for the Greek Freak will be to get his Milwaukee Bucks team to the Playoffs and then, the Eastern Conference Finals.
Whether or not he wins the MVP award, there is no denying that the Antetokounmpo is one of the best players in the league and is absolutely entertaining to watch on the court. He can be a dominant force in the NBA for many years to come.
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