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The Milwaukee Bucks are preoccupied right now (seriously, Game 5 against the Boston Celtics tips off in like 10 minutes!), but once again Giannis Antetokounmpo gathered some serious recognition for the league’s most prestigious regular season award. This time around, Giannis earned enough votes to take third place behind runner-up Joel Embiid and the winner, Nikola Jokic.
This is the second Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award for Nikola Jokić, who also earned the honor last season. He becomes the 13th player to win the award in consecutive seasons.
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) May 11, 2022
More ➡️ https://t.co/hVjnZunkcw
Voting Results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/fZlabO0aFF
I mentioned this on Twitter once the results were released; Giannis has enough respect to have been on all 100 ballots this time around, an achievement shared by both Embiid and Jokic. However, Giannis placed far behind the others in terms of first-place votes (worth 10 points by the NBA’s system); the Greek Freak only earned 9 top spots compared to 26 for Embiid and 65 for Jokic.
It was an intense and competitive MVP race, and few Bucks fans are particularly upset about Jokic winning the award again. For the second straight year, the Nuggets center takes home the top individual honor...a feat matched by none other than Giannis himself, the two seasons prior.
Of course, Embiid and his followers are totally not mad about the Philadelphia-based superstar taking home the silver medal. Nope, not mad at all.
Joel Embiid speaks out on the MVP award pic.twitter.com/s0PxOqS0O7
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 11, 2022
Giannis is the real MVP anyway.
Anyways, now it’s back to hyperventilating about the stakes of Game 5. Breathe easy, everyone! Bucks in six is still technically possible!