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Blake Griffin backs Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo to win NBA MVP in 2025-26

Originally posted on NBA on ClutchPoints
By Jackson Stone | Last updated Aug 20, 2025 11:56 AM ET

The Milwaukee Bucks are preparing for what could be a make or break season as it pertains to their employment of franchise cornerstone Giannis Antetokounmpo. Trade talks surrounding Antetokounmpo have heated up in the last few weeks, and it remains to be seen whether the Bucks’ marginal additions this offseason will be enough to convince the Greek Freak not to seek greener pastures.

With Damian Lillard now back with the Portland Trail Blazers and the Bucks lacking talent at essentially every position besides power forward, many expect Antetokounmpo to put up a career this year and do all of the heavy lifting, including former NBA All-Star Blake Griffin.

“I’m gonna go with Giannis… He’s gonna be playing close to 40 minutes a night, averaging whatever ungodly numbers he does,” said Griffin, when asked who he thinks will win this year’s NBA MVP award, per the Post Moves with Candace Parker & Aliyah Boston.

Antetokounmpo will indeed likely be tasked with doing a lot of the heavy lifting this year for a Bucks team that is short on talent and depth and has a coach in Doc Rivers who is not afraid to run his stars into the ground from a minutes perspective.

A strange Bucks team

Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) during game five of the first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse with the Greek Basketball Federation in the background Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

The big move of the offseason for the Milwaukee Bucks came when they released Damian Lillard and pushed his salary further down the road in order to clear up cap space to sign free agent center Myles Turner.

Turner had just been to the NBA Finals with his former team, the Indiana Pacers, but he didn’t exactly perform great under the spotlight when he got there.

Still, the Bucks are clearly hoping that Turner can provide a younger and more athletic version of the three point shooting and rim protection that they got out of Brook Lopez, who is now a member of the Los Angeles Clippers, for several years.

Still, even with the Eastern Conference weakened by injuries at the current point, it’s unclear if the Bucks have enough on their roster to truly compete, even if Antetokounmpo is in for the career year that Griffin and many others are predicting.

This article first appeared on NBA on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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