Defending champion James Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Paul George are the finalists for this season’s Most Valuable Player award, the league announced in a press release.
The voting is expected to be close between Harden, who averaged 36.1 PPG and 7.5 APG during the regular season, and Antetokounmpo, who carried the Bucks to the best record in the league while averaging 27.7 PPG, 12.5 RPG and 5.9 APG. George averaged 28.0 PPG, 8.2 RPG and 4.1 APG.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors’ 2019 NBA Award Picks: Most Valuable Player]
The league also released the finalists for its other awards. The winners will be revealed during a TNT broadcast on Monday, June 24. Here are the rest of the finalists:
Rookie of the Year:
- Deandre Ayton (Suns)
- Luka Doncic (Mavericks)
- Trae Young (Hawks)
Sixth Man of the Year:
- Montrezl Harrell (Clippers)
- Domantas Sabonis (Pacers)
- Lou Williams (Clippers)
Defensive Player of the Year:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks)
- Paul George (Thunder)
- Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
Most Improved Player:
- De’Aaron Fox (Kings)
- D’Angelo Russell (Nets)
- Pascal Siakam (Raptors)
Coach of the Year:
- Mike Budenholzer (Bucks)
- Michael Malone (Nuggets)
- Doc Rivers (Clippers)
Giannis for MVP. Luka ROTY. Montreal edges out Lou for 6 man. Rudy for DPOY. Siakam MIP. Budenholzer coach of the year over Doc
2 words. Blake Griffin.
Hahaha
Doc has to get coach of the year. It shouldn’t even be close.
It is close, because Milwaukee was a .500 team last year and they gained nearly 20 wins with a new coach. Denver also improved so whoever wins is a deserving candidate.
True that they are all deserving candidates. However, Doc did some voodoo magic to get the Clippers into the playoffs (in the west, no less) even after his top offensive player was traded away. But, you are correct that they all did great jobs this year.
Trae for ROY. Luka didn’t play the entire season.
Donicic played 72 games, pretty darn close. Trae only played any good for a half a season
Using that kind of logic, AC Green would have been MVP 14 years in a row as he never missed a game.
Ac green never had stats close to win mvp….but nice try
that was a bit much and he said ROY not MVP.
Where is Draymond Green for DPOY??
J/K?
I think George just showed Westbrook that you don’t need a triple double a night
Dennis Schroder not in the running for 6th man?
Lmao paul george is a bum! Its gonna be harden or the freak by miles!
Yeah 3rd in the MVP race, what a bum. Your name says it all lol
Your clearly as rediculas as you are disrespectful guy
I totally agree with the finalist for ROY, sixth man & COY… but not with the others.
MVP — Giannis, AD, Harden.
DPOY — Giannis, Embiid, PG13
MIP — Embiid, Beal, Giannis.
Winners:
MVP — Giannis
ROY — Ayton
DPOY — Giannis/Embiid (shared)
6th man — Sabonis
MIP —- Embiid
COY — Budenholzer/Malone (shared)
What is AD doing on your MVP ballot. Guy gave up on his team
As far as I can see his team gave up on him by not playing him… what on earth do you get that he gave up? He wanted to play!!! If it wasn’t for what the Pels did to him he would be the MVP… now he is my #2 still ahead of Harden… but behind Giannis.
Harden carried the Rockets all year and hit numbers not seen in years. Giannis is a great players but his PPG is over 8 less than Harden! Not sure why this is even close except for the haters.
With the playoffs on and the draft lottery and so many trades & signings likely, these awards don’t seem as important as it did during the season! But in theory it is probably good to be able to include playoff results in a voter’s thinking. And I’m sure many voters have already decided.