Giannis Jokes Shams Got 'Hacked' After Report Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Won NBA MVP
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is waiting for the official announcement before he fully accepts the outcome of this year's NBA Most Valuable Player voting.
ESPN's Shams Charania reported the Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will receive the honor. Antetokounmpo seemed to feign disbelief upon seeing the news:
Giannis is one of the three finalists for MVP, but he presumably knew this was mostly a two-horse race between Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić. In the final straw poll from ESPN's Tim Bontemps, SGA garnered 77 first-place votes to 23 for Jokić. Antetokounmpo was a distant third.
Jokić was pretty much as good if not better than how he performed during his three MVP seasons. He averaged 29.6 points on 57.6 percent shooting along with 12.7 points and 10.2 assists. The Nuggets won 50 games and earned the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
Voter fatigue can always be a problem for a player with one or more MVPs in his cabinet already, though.
Gilgeous-Alexander will be a deserving winner in his own right, too. He led the NBA in scoring (32.7 points) and dished out 6.4 assists per contest. The Thunder's dominance boosted his candidacy further as they won more games (68) and had the highest net rating (plus-12.7) of any team, per NBA.com.
While it doesn't count toward the MVP tally, SGA's production during Oklahoma City's playoff run is demonstrating his value on the court. He's scoring nearly 30 points a night (29.2) with his team up 1-0 over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals.
