Giannis named NBA Defensive Player of the Year
Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the NBA last year, has been crowned the Defensive Player of the Year for the 2019/2020 season.
It keeps on getting better for the Greek Freak. On Tuesday, the NBA confirmed that Antetokounmpo has been named the 2019/2020 Defensive Player of the Year, with the 25-year-old forward receiving 75 first-place votes from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters and earning 432 total points. Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (200 points; 14 first-place votes) and Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (187 points; six first-place votes) finished in second and third place, respectively.
Gobert had been voted the Defensive Player of the Year in the past two seasons.
It’s worth noting that the voting process was conducted based on matches of the regular season which took place before March 11. The seeding games, which were staged between July 30 and August 14, did not count towards the voting.
Antetokounmpo is just the fifth player in history to win the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards during his NBA career, following in the footsteps of Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Kevin Garnett. He is only the second Milwaukee player after Sidney Moncrief (1983, 1984) to be awarded this particular prize.
Until March 11, Antetokounmpo had averaged 11.5 defensive rebounds, 1.04 steals and 1.02 blocked shots in the NBA, while also tallying an average of 29.6 points, 13.7 rebounds and 5.8 assists at the same time. Moreover, Antetokounmpo is also a finalist for the MVP award, with the winner set to be announced by TNT during its coverage of the playoffs.
“I want to thank God for this award, without God I wouldn’t be in this position,” stated Antetokounmpo when receiving the prize. “I express my thanks to my family who are always motivating and supporting me, they are there for me regardless of whether we win or lose. I thank the coaching staff for bringing the best out of us every single night, you guys give us the game plan and make it easy for us to go out there and compete. I also thank my teammates, this wouldn’t be possible without them. I know that my name is on this trophy, but any of their names could be on it instead. I believe that defence is built on trust. We trust each other, believe in each other and that is why we are the best defensive team in the NBA. I want to keep it that way.”
The Milwaukee Bucks currently hold a 3-1 lead over the Orlando Magic in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
