What’s different about Giannis Antetokounmpo situation this offseason?
What’s different about the Giannis Antetokounmpo situation this offseason? Jim Owczarski discusses next moves for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo capped off another historic individual season with a third-place finish in the 2024-25 NBA Most Valuable Player voting. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City won the award, and Nikola Jokić of Denver was runner-up.
Antetokounmpo was named the NBA Cup MVP following the Bucks’ victory over Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder on Dec. 17.
“I’ll just keep it simple: He’s the best player in the world,” Bucks center Brook Lopez told the Journal Sentinel as he searched for words to describe his teammate following the team’s championship finish in the in-season tournament. “He just keeps finding ways to get better in the offseason, in-season, every day, every game, it’s just so impressive.”
It is Gilgeous-Alexander’s first MVP, and he claimed 71 first-place votes and 29 second-place votes. He was runner-up to Jokić last season. Denver’s superstar center already has three MVPs and two second-place finishes and he earned 29 first-place votes and 71 second-place votes.
Antetokounmpo received 88 third-place votes. He was a back-to-back winner of the MVP in 2019 and 2020, finished third for the third time (2022, 2023). He has finished no lower than fourth in the MVP voting since 2017-18.
Antetokounmpo finished the season averaging 30.4 points (No. 2 behind Gilgeous-Alexander’s 32.7), 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game. It was his third season averaging at least 30-10-5, which is the most by a single player in league history.
“Giannis is one of one,” Bucks head coach Doc Rivers said during the season. “I think, unfortunately for all the voters, they’re tired of voting for him for stuff. But, he had every bit of an MVP season this year.
“What I’m most proud of is he has turned into a leader. And I’m not just talking about on the floor, but off the floor. Last year, he wasn’t a very vocal guy. Everyone told me he wasn’t a vocal guy. This year he became a vocal guy. We leaned on him to do that. Early on he was uncomfortable doing that. And then by the end of the year, you saw him in timeouts (on April 29 in Game 5 of the playoffs).
“I couldn’t be more proud of a player. Because getting outside of your box is very difficult to do. And Giannis did that for me this year.”
Antetokounmpo shot 60.1% from the field overall, giving him consecutive seasons averaging 30 points on 60% shooting. He is the only player in NBA history to do that even once.
Antetokounmpo set a single-season record with seven straight games of scoring 30 points on 60% shooting and did that a league-best 27 times. He now has 154 games of scoring at least 30 points on 60% shooting, moving past Wilt Chamberlain this season for No. 6 all-time.
He also set an NBA record with 27 consecutive games of scoring 20 or more points on at least 50% shooting.
Antetokounmpo also led the league with 22 games of at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists and led the NBA with 30-point double-doubles (35).
The 30-year-old also recorded a career-high 11 triple-doubles, second in the NBA to Jokić (34).
One of those was a 35-point, 20-assist, 17-rebound game against Philadelphia on April 3. It was the first 35-20-15 game in NBA history and just the sixth 30-20-10 in a single game.
Over the final 10 games of the season with all-star point guard Damian Lillard out with a blood clot, Antetokounmpo averaged 31.5 points on 61.3% shooting while pulling down 11.7 rebounds and handing out 9.1 assists.
“I couldn’t be more happy with a player,” Rivers said. “I can’t remember anyone that I’m happier with in one year, to do the changes, to go to point guard position and talk to him about being a passer first and then getting to the game. The word cooperation comes to mind, and Giannis cooperated with us the entire year. That’s the only reason we’re sitting here (in the playoffs).”
Though MVP voting does not include postseason play, it’s worth noting that in his first healthy playoff since 2022, Antetokounmpo averaged 33 points on 60.6% shooting while pulling down 15.4 rebounds and handing out 6.6 assists. In Game 5, he had 30 points, 20 rebounds and 13 assists, making him the fourth player to record a 30-20-10 game in a postseason.
Antetokounmpo also set an NBA record by notching his third career postseason averaging 30-10-5.