Can Giannis actually win MVP this season?
Look, we're three games into the 2017-18 NBA season - a campaign that's not even one week old. Yet, because it is in fact 2017-18, prudence demands we react to small sample sizes accordingly. Are the Golden State Warriors washed? Well, they are 1-2! Will the Toronto Raptors finish first in the East? Maybe! Can Giannis Antetokounmpo win NBA MVP?
Actually, that's not a bad question.
It's often forgotten that the literal definition of MVP is "Most Valuable Player" and not "best player." As in: if said player was taken off his team, they'd be nowhere near as good. From that standpoint, LeBron James has been the NBA MVP for the better part of a decade, with some legitimate points to be made for two-time winner Stephen Curry as well.
And while (like every other team in the NBA as of Sunday afternoon) the 2-1 Milwaukee Bucks' season is only three games old, what Giannis has done in the trio of contests is incredible.
| FG% | PTS | REB | AST | STL | PER |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67.2 | 38.3 | 9.7 | 5 | 2.7 | 43.3 |
How about some advanced stats?
382 players have spent time on an NBA court this season. Here's how all of them stack up in TPA:
— NBA Math (@NBA_Math) October 22, 2017
(Warning: VERY SMALL SAMPLES) pic.twitter.com/MOLda1twTO
Yes, that's Nikola Vucevic and Joe Ingles up there as well on NBA Math's Total Points Added model, but as is plainly clear already, the sample sizes are small. Yet Antetokounmpo - who doesn't turn 23 until Dec. 6 - has been the most impactful player so far in the NBA's first week, and while some of those numbers won't be sustainable over 82 games, the Bucks will go exactly where he takes them.
Last season, only Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and LeBron finished ahead of Giannis in VORP, per Basketball-Reference. His 12.4 win shares came on a 42-40 team that finished sixth in the Eastern Conference.
Related: Giannis honors late father with game ball after career night
Many pundits have the Bucks heading for a top-four finish this season, health permitting. But it's worth remembering on this front just how exclusive a club NBA MVPs belong to. Last season, Westbrook became the first player to win the Maurice Podoloff Trophy on a sub-50 win team (lockout years excluded) since Moses Malone in 1982.
Again, sample sizes matter, but in contrast, only 11 of his 115 points this season have come outside the paint, according to NBA Stats' John Schuhmann. On one level, that's not surprising given his 6-foot-11 height, 7-foot-3 wingspan, and the fact he's played most minutes at power forward. Antetokounmpo has struggled with a perimeter shot since coming into the league, shooting just 27.2 percent on 2.3 attempts from beyond the arc per game last season.
It's situational at the moment with so many of his buckets coming in isolation. Yet, you have to assume two things, micro and macro respectively: That the Bucks may try and move the ball more, and that his outside shot will develop over time. In the interim, however, the insane length he possesses does wonders on the perimeter defensively. His strip Saturday on Portland's C.J. McCollum and game-winning finish in one fluid motion is the stuff legends are made of.
Yes, it's early, and the numbers will even out, but whatever happens in awards season, Antetokounmpo is staking a legitimate claim as an MVP candidate.