Giannis Antetokounmpo's NBA MVP-winning season by the STATS numbers

Written by Sports Desk. Posted in NBA. | 18 September 2020 | 466 Views
Tags: Basketball, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks, Nba

Another season, another Most Valuable Player award for Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo was crowned the NBA's MVP for the second straight year after leading the Bucks to the top seed in the Eastern Conference and the league's best record (56-17) before losing in the semi-finals at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.

The "Greek Freak" – who averaged 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game during the regular season – is the first player to claim MVP honours in successive seasons since Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry in 2015 and 2016.

After capping another dominant individual season, we look at Antetokounmpo's campaign using STATS data.

- Antetokounmpo is the only player that ranked in the top five in scoring and rebounding this season among qualifying players. The last player to do it on the team with the most wins in the NBA that season was Los Angeles Lakers great Shaquille O'Neal in 1999-00.

- Of all players to rank in the top five of both points per game and rebounds per game, Antetokounmpo was doing it averaging the fewest minutes per game (30.4). For context, Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid ranked in the top five last season with 33.7 minutes per game.

- Antetokounmpo led the Bucks in points per game, total rebounds per game and assists per game in 2019-20. For comparison, Denver Nuggets All-Star led his team with 19.9ppg, 9.7rpg and 7.0apg.

- Antetokounmpo also did this last season and also in 2016-17. If not for team-mate Eric Bledsoe barely beating him out in assists per game in 2017-18, Antetokounmpo would have led Milwaukee in these categories for a fourth consecutive season.

- There have been 15 instances in which a player has averaged 25.0-plus points per game, 10.0-plus rebounds per game and 5.0-plus assists per game in a season. Antetokounmpo has two of these instances, this season and last term. The 25-year-old joins Russell Westbrook, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson as the only players to average these numbers in multiple seasons.

- Not since Abdul-Jabbar in 1972-73 (30.2ppg, 16.1rbg and 5.0apg) has a player enjoyed a season with 29.0-plus points per game, 13.0-plus rebounds per game and 5.0-plus assists per game. Chamberlain achieved the feat twice in 1963-64 (36.9ppg, 22.3rbg and 5.0apg) and 1965-66 (33.5ppg, 24.6rbg and 5.2apg), while Elgin Baylor had averages of 34.8ppg, 19.8rbg and 5.1apg in 1960-61.