Bucks Zone

Three Milwaukee Bucks named finalists for the season’s NBA individual awards

The trio had significant contributions in the Milwaukee Bucks’ stellar run in the regular season.

Matthew Dugandzic

© Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports
In this story:

Three Milwaukee Bucks who enormously contributed to the team’s strong regular season showing are among the contenders for coveted NBA individual awards.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis Jr., and Brook Lopez have been named finalists in three separate major awards this season.

Antetokounmpo is a finalist for the Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, joining Denver’s Nikola Jokic, and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.

The sweet-shooting center Lopez is among the finalists for the Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year. His fellow finalists are Jaren Jackson Jr. of Memphis and Cleveland’s Evan Mobley.

Portis has been nominated as Kia NBA Sixth Man of the Year finalist, along with Malcolm Brogdon of Boston and Immanuel Quickley of New York.

Powering the Bucks to the top

Antetokounmpo, Lopez, and Portis played vital roles in the Bucks’ stellar run in the regular season, finishing with an NBA-best 58-24 record.

The feat enabled the Bucks to clinch the overall top seed and will have home-court advantage in every playoff series they play.

The Bucks will play the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs beginning Sunday at the Fiserv Forum.

Very productive Bucks

The two-time MVP Antetokounmpo ended the season with averages of 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks a game.

Giannis ended the season fifth in scoring and tied with Jokic for second in rebounding.

Lopez was good for 15.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, 1.3 assists, and 0.5 steals in his 78 regular season games.

Lopez and Claxton were tied for second in the block category, trailing Jackson Jr., who averaged 3.0 blocks per game in the season.

Portis, for his part, has been a force off the bench for the Bucks, ending the season with averages of 14.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.2 blocks.

Portis averaged 26 minutes in the 70 regular season games that he played.

Other finalists for this year’s season awards are New York’s Jalen Brunson, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Oklahoma City, and Lauri Markkanen (Kia NBA Most Improved Player), Orlando’s Paolo Banchero, Walker Kessler of Utah, and Jalen Williams (Kia NBA Rookie of the Year), Miami’s Jimmy Butler, DeMar DeRozan of Chicago and De’Aaron Fox of Sacramento (Kia NBA Clutch Player of the Year) and Mike Brown of Sacramento, Oklahoma’s Mark Daigneault and Boston’s Joe Mazzulla (Kia Coach of the Year).

Published
Matthew Dugandzic
MATTHEW DUGANDZIC

Matthew finished his bachelor's degree in Economics (Management) at the University of Split and got his master's degree in the same field at the University of Zadar. Whether it is playing the game as an undersized 6'3'' power forward or simply watching it, Matthew can't get enough of it. After all, he has been an avid NBA fan since the 2000s. But don't get him wrong, as Matthew still loves the old-school NBA and is a true student of the game. From on-court moments to off-court stuff, whether it's about the stars of modern-day basketball or legends of the game, Matthew covers every category of the NBA world and basketball in general, as long as it makes for an engaging and exciting story.