Analyzing the top five contenders for NBA MVP

Giannis Antetokounmpo – Milwaukee Bucks

After a rough start, Giannis has dragged his Bucks back into the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Through sheer force of will — and shoulders that would make Atlas blush — Antetokounmpo has made an aging and painfully shallow Bucks team look, at times, world-class. He’s achieved that through his usual stellar defense, especially as a weak side roamer, where his pterodactyl arms continue to bother shots and disrupt passing lanes.

Offensively, Giannis averages a career-high 32.4 points per game — his third straight season above the 30-point mark. However, what has caught the eye is how he’s doing it this season.

Whilst always able to soar over or barrel through defenders, the now 30-year-old has added some finesse to his game, namely a mid-range jump shot. The defenses can no longer wall off the rim and hope Giannis punches himself out, not when he’s shooting 53.3% on shots between 10-16 feet and 44% from 16 feet to the arc.

He’s not taking a huge number of middies, but, to be fair, he doesn’t have to. By its nature, the threat of the pull-up opens the driving lanes where Antetokounmpo traditionally thrives.

Jayson Tatum – Boston Celtics

The MVP race drops away a fraction here, but don’t let that take away from another gem of a season from Tatum, who, like SGA, is the do-it-all leader of the best team in his conference (sorry, Cleveland).

Tatum’s numbers are stellar — 28.2 points, 47/37/80 shooting splits, 9.4 boards, 5.6 assists and 1.3 steals — yet they don’t quite jump off the page in the way the players mentioned above do. That is almost entirely down to a star-studded and deep roster that has been put together around him, meaning he doesn’t need to carry an offensive load commensurate to Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander, or Giannis. It’s probably not fair, but that does hinder his MVP case.

Victor Wembanyama – San Antonio Spurs

With Luka Doncic’s Christmas Day calf injury all but sure to render him ineligible for the MVP under the 65-game rule, let’s get a little crazy and throw Wembanyama into the mix.

Almost instinctively, it feels premature to put the sophomore into this race, yet when you look at the numbers, the just-turned-21-year-old is deserving. A hair under 26 points per game, 3.3 threes (on a healthy 36.2%), an 87.5% free throw clip, 10.3 boards, 3.9 assists, 3.9 blocks and a steal for good measure. That is, by any measure and in any year, MVP-worthy production.

The advanced stats support Wemby’s claim, too. A league-leading 3.4 Defensive BPM, 10.5% block percentage (again, league-leading), a 26.1 PER, and an absurd 81.9% conversion from the restricted area.

The eye test is even more compelling. We all know how he warps the very dimensions of the court, but it was most kind of the big fella to give us a remainder, and against a fellow MVP candidate no less, disrupting one of the most unstoppable moves in basketball.