DETROIT – The Milwaukee Bucks have risen from the dead, and the man who rolled away the stone has put them on his back, as he should.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is playing like an MVP, an award he won twice in his mid-20s. He and Damian Lillard form a chemistry that appears formidable, with Khris Middleton expected to make his season debut on Friday after double ankle surgery this offseason.
And Antetokounmpo, who turns 30 today, admits he wants a third Most Valuable Player award.
“Yes, that would definitely bring tears to my eyes,” Antetokounmpo told Yahoo Sports earlier this week. “I would like to be part of that conversation. It lets me know that I was able to help my team, carry my team and strengthen (us as a team).
“I’m not going to lie, it definitely means something to me.”
In recent years, Antetokounmpo has claimed that winning the award didn’t mean much to him, but his tune has changed. Maybe he’s turning 30 and knows he’s peaking. Maybe it’s that Nikola Jokić got his third win last year and looks very much like someone who can win a fourth this year.
Winning a third would push Antetokounmpo past Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan and Steve Nash and into the same stratosphere with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Moses Malone and the aforementioned Jokić. Additionally, Nash was the last MVP to win the award at age 30, during his age-30 and age-31 seasons with the Phoenix Suns in 2005 and ’06.
With the exception of Derrick Rose on the young side (22 years old in 2011) and Michael Jordan on the older side (35 in 1998), most MVPs are won by players between 25 and 28 years old. Antetokounmpo won his two at the age of 24. and 25.
“At this point in my career I was having a conversation with my brother, I was like, man, it’s crazy for me. I had just come to the realization that I might never win an MVP again,” Antetokounmpo told Yahoo Sports. “I have better years than the years I won it. Anyway, the competition is improving, the boys are playing very, very well.”
But Antetokounmpo’s consistency can sometimes be overlooked despite finishing in the top four in MVP voting for the past six years, and he takes it a step further this season.
It’s not just that he leads the league in scoring nearly 33 points a night while shooting 62 percent from the field for his career. His assists are at a career high (6.6), he’s still rebounding at a high level (11.6), and Doc Rivers is finding ways to unleash him as a defensive threat again.
But Antetokounmpo is also a more efficient player this year, embracing the mid-range jump rather than running into defenses that put up a wall waiting for him. On the one hand, it saves his body from the unforgiving hardwood floor he often falls onto. On the other hand, taking shots in that 14- to 17-foot range makes him nearly impossible to defend — and he doesn’t feel forced to take 3s, which gets the defense off the hook. His three-point percentage is the lowest it has been since his sophomore year.
“I feel basketball-wise, I can read plays better now,” Antetokounmpo told Yahoo Sports. “Sometimes I know my places much better. I’m not in that much of a hurry. I am more balanced. Yes, I don’t know if I’m playing better, but we’ll see towards the end of the year.”
It’s a frightening thought for him to embrace that part of his game and even more frightening for him to see his already diverse skill set continue to mature. Antetokounmpo already owns the spot for the greatest player development story in NBA history, and now he’s knocking down mid-range jumpers at a rapid rate.
Against Detroit in the game that put the Bucks in the knockout round of the NBA Cup, Antetokounmpo did not miss his first nine attempts and had just one dunk.
“I’m literally changing my game, and it gives me such a dopamine rush in my head because I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” Antetokounmpo told reporters. “Now there will be games that I will make (none). I didn’t give a fuck in the last match. But for this game I made them. Hopefully I can make more in the next match.”
“If I had the opportunity to win MVP, it would definitely bring tears to my eyes. I don’t say it as clickbait.”Giannis Antetokounmpo
The next game is against the Boston Celtics, a true test of whether the Bucks have turned it around from that 2-8 start to a return to the pack in the Eastern Conference. A win could mark another step back toward being feared in the conference, as Boston, Cleveland, Orlando and New York represent the top pick.
But only Boston has real playoff success. The Bucks have won just one playoff series since winning a championship in 2021 — largely because Antetokounmpo’s health has been an issue.
He missed last year’s first-round loss to the Indiana Pacers (calf injury) and played just three games in their shocking first-round loss to the Miami Heat in 2023 after injuring his back.
“I’m not going to lie,” Antetokounmpo told Yahoo Sports. ‘There are two things. I want to play in the play-offs. …You know, I haven’t had that feeling. That feeling was taken away from me last year.”
“And second, if I had the opportunity to win MVP, it would definitely bring tears to my eyes. I don’t say it as clickbait.”
He remembers Michael Jordan saying that his first title wasn’t the hardest, but that the last title, in 1998, was the hardest.
“I’m dominating here,” Antetokounmpo said, pointing to a spot in the locker room as if it were an imaginary floor. ‘I can’t remember the last time I attacked someone. So I try to pick my spots and then mentally dominate the game. And if I am able to (win again), it would definitely bring tears. My children will also be able to see me win.”
And above all, he wants them to see him play in May and June as well.
