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Giannis Antetokounmpo Is Not Really the NBA MVP: Unchecked

Giannis Antetokounmpo's offensive struggles in the playoffs show why he isn't really the most valuable player in the NBA.

Robin Lundberg

Let me first say, Giannis Antetokounmpo is a terrific player and seems to be an awesome teammate as well. However, as a great philosopher once said, there’s levels to this.

And in today’s NBA, I don’t believe a player can truly be the most valuable in the league if he can’t get his own shot, and at this point, that simply isn’t something that Giannis has in his bag. 

We’ve seen in the playoffs that when good defenses are able to focus on him and wall off his drives, the Greek Freak struggles offensively. It happened last year against the Toronto Raptors as his scoring plummeted and now the exact same formula is working for the Miami Heat. 

To be fair, the Heat are outplaying the Milwaukee Bucks beyond just Giannis, but when it comes down to it, considering he’s about to be a back to back MVP, the expectations are for him to be able to do his thing no matter what the opponent is doing. 

The way we’ve seen LeBron James, who I believe is always the most valuable player, do time and time again. And I would also take Kawhi Leonard heading into a playoff series over Giannis without even a second of hesitation. Perhaps because he is a modern day big, Antetokounmpo needs a wingman to create for him, though he is getting some help from Khris Middleton in this series. 

Simply put, I can’t take anyone seriously in the conversation for the best player in the league if they can’t take over down the stretch of playoff games.

If Giannis isn’t at the top of the list of players you want when it really matters, is he really the MVP?

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Robin Lundberg
ROBIN LUNDBERG

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