Midway through the Bucks’ Game 1 victory over the Bulls last night, the NBA announced finalists for its individual awards, meaning the top three vote-getters for each as determined by an electorate made up of league media figures. As expected, Giannis Antetokounmpo is indeed a finalist for what would be his third Most Valuable Player award:
For MVP and the other awards alike, the finalists are pretty similar to what several of us writers chose in our make-believe ballots. It seems likely we’ll be aligned with the end results in these with one notable exception (at least for Bucks fans): Defensive Player of the Year.