Touchdown, Giannis.
The Milwaukee Bucks still feel like the NBA’s biggest mystery 70 percent of the way through the season, but you can’t blame the play of superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo for it. Antetokounmpo already has two NBA MVP trophies and a Defensive Player of the Year award on his mantle, but a case can be made that this is his strongest individual season yet. For all the turmoil facing the Bucks — they’re third in the East, 10th in the league in net-rating, and they’ve already fired their head coach — Antetokounmpo’s undeniable dominance still gives them a chance to get their stuff together and go on a championship push in the playoffs.
Antetokounmpo is a top-3 player in the world, and a top-3 candidate for MVP this season at minimum. Giannis has faced accusations of only being a Run and Jump Guy in the past, but this season he’s continued to showcase how well-rounded his game is. One major example of this is his passing.
Antetokounmpo is an awesome passer, and he threw one of his best passes of the season on Friday as Milwaukee beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 119-98. Watch Giannis throw a perfect full-court outlet pass to Brook Lopez to help the Bucks score from under their own basket with only 1.5 seconds left in the half.
Antetokounmpo is averaging a career-high 6.4 assists per game this year. He’s been a really good passer for years at this point — he’s had an assist rate over 30 percent in five of the last six years — but it feels like he’s getting more audacious with his passing this season, and it’s paying off.
Here’s another ridiculous pass Giannis made two nights earlier against the Minnesota Timberwolves:
Giannis is shooting a career-high 65.2 percent from two-point range this season. He attracts so much attention going to the basket that his teammates are bound to be open, and so far this year he’s finding them in creative ways. Old SB Nation pal Frank Madden has great thread of Giannis’ best passes ever.
If Antetokounmpo isn’t the MVP right now, he’s damn close. This is an all-time great player who is totally at the peak of his powers. He’s so much more than a runner and jumper.
