Bucks’ Doc Rivers: NBA MVP Voters Are Tired of Giannis; Similar to Michael Jordan

Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRTFeatured Columnist IVMarch 2, 2024

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Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers believes Giannis Antetokounmpo is the victim of voter fatigue when it comes to deciding the MVP award.

“I don’t even want to get into it, but there’s been guys that you get tired of voting for,” Rivers told reporters Friday. “Michael [Jordan] may be the poster child of that. And Giannis seems to be in that category; where you’re so good, everything you do is taken for granted. When you just look at his numbers, they’re incredible, and yet, you never hear his name. It’s unbelievable, but that’s a sign of respect more than disrespect in some ways.”

There’s probably an argument to be made that Jordan should have won the MVP in every year of his prime with the Chicago Bulls, though it’s also worth noting that he won the award five times, tied with Bill Russell for the second most all-time behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six).

As for whether Antetokounmpo’s name is rarely heard in the MVP discussion, that’s pretty debatable. He currently sits third on the NBA.com MVP ladder behind Nikola Jokić and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, was a back-to-back winner in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons and finished third in the voting the past two seasons.

Since he first won the award in 2018-19, the MVP conversation has largely been dominated by Antetokounmpo, Jokić and Joel Embiid, with all three making extremely strong cases. This year feels about as wide open as its been in some time, with players like Jayson Tatum and Luka Dončić also in the running. And if Embiid wasn’t hurt and eligible to hit the required games needed to qualify for the award, he’d certainly be in the conversation as well.

Here’s a rudimentary résumé of the top five MVP contenders:

Jokić: 25.8 PPG (14th), 12.3 RPG (fourth), 9.3 APG (fourth), 31.42 player efficiency rating (second), Denver Nuggets are third in the West (41-19).Gilgeous-Alexander: 31.2 PPG (second), 6.5 APG (14th), 30.71 PER (third), Oklahoma City Thunder are second in the West (41-18).
Antetokounmpo: 30.8 PPG (third), 11.3 RPG (sixth), 6.3 APG (tied 16th), 30.22 PER (fourth), Bucks are third in the East (40-21).
Tatum: 27.1 PPG (ninth), 8.5 RPG (tied 23rd), 4.8 APG (tied 45th), 22.43 PER (18th), Boston Celtics have an NBA-best 47-12 record.Dončić: 34.5 PPG (first), 8.9 RPG (19th), 9.7 APG (third), 28.98 PER (fifth), Dallas Mavericks are eighth in the West (34-26). 
Is there one player in that group who clearly stands above the rest? Those are all very strong cases, for varying reasons.

Giannis will be one of the main contenders assuming he maintains his current level of play. But if he doesn’t win, it will likely come down to a field of incredibly deserving candidates more than voter fatigue.