In many ways, it was the season of Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Milwaukee Bucks finished the 2018-19 regular season with the league’s best record and, for much of the campaign, Antetokounmpo seemed to be the front-runner to bring home NBA MVP honors. While the presence of Houston Rockets guard James Harden certainly didn’t make it easy on Antetokounmpo, his performance was deemed to be enough for the NBA’s top individual honor when the award was announced on Monday evening by a 78-23 margin of first place votes over Harden.
The 24-year-old superstar finished the season averaging 27.7 points, 12.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game, with easy number serving as a personal-best for Antetokounmpo. Beyond that, he scored with devastating efficiency, posting a 64.4 percent true shooting for the season, and Antetokounmpo also led the NBA with a sparkling 30.9 PER over the course of 72 games.
On the other end of the floor, Antetokounmpo was also excellent, perhaps separating from the pack as a result of his two-way impact. While he may not be the best defender in the NBA today, Antetokounmpo should be on any short list, using his tremendous length, strength and athleticism to his advantage to wreak havoc against opposing offenses.
Giannis gets emotional as he thanks his family after winning the #KiaMVP trophy. 🙏#NBAAwards pic.twitter.com/c2WrHZMB0k
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 25, 2019
In a “normal” season, Harden’s MVP resume was also sterling. He averaged 36.1 (!) points per game to (comfortably) lead the league, and Harden paired that with 7.5 assists and 6.6 rebounds per contest. He finished behind only Antetokounmpo in PER (30.6) and Harden’s offensive workload was utterly staggering, with a 40.5 percent usage rate that peaked during a well-chronicled stretch in which Chris Paul was absent with injury.
Many voters publicly battled with the decision between the two players, with Antetokounmpo as the narrative candidate in search of his first honor and Harden as the reigning winner of the award. In the end, the two-way brilliance of Antetokounmpo won out over the offensive absurdity of Harden, though, and the Bucks can now trumpet the presence of a league MVP on their roster.
