Giannis Antetokounmpo dazzled us all year in winning NBA Most Improved Player

Giannis Antetokounmpo ran away with the league’s weirdest award, a not-clearly-defined achievement set up to congratulate players who play significantly better than the year before. He is the NBA’s Most Improved Player.

Sometimes, it just goes to a player who sees a spike in minutes while playing about the same. But that’s not the case with Antetokounmpo.

The Milwaukee Bucks entered this season with Antetokounmpo as the team’s point guard, sort of. It’s really not fair to define him as having any specific position, because Antetokounmpo plays them all. He’ll guard anyone and play anywhere. Put the ball in his massive hands, and something good is going to happen.

Antetokounmpo played about the same number of minutes (35.6) as he did last year (35.3), but improved across the board, including:

With those averages, Antetokounmpo became the first player in league history to finish top-20 in all five major categories. It’s an incredibly impressive accomplishment that speaks to how unique and dominant a player Antetokounmpo is already. Reminder: he’s only 22 years old.

The Bucks weren’t great, winning 42 games and losing in the first round, but Antetokounmpo carried them through injuries to his teammates, first Khris Middleton and then Jabari Parker. Antetokounmpo was the team’s leader on both ends of the court, and there really isn’t a clear solution for his ever-stretching limbs when he gets into the right position. When you watch Antetokounmpo, there’s a good chance you might see him make a play that no one else in the league could even consider.

At 22, it’s scary to consider that Antetokounmpo might keep improving. Obviously, his jump shot is his biggest weakness and something he’ll keep working to improve on. Even if it never got any better than it is right now, though, Antetokounmpo is a special player whom we should all appreciate as often as possible.