The Greek Freak also known as Giannis Antetokounmpo (or was it the other way around?) was the big favorite for another NBA Regular Season MVP Award before the start of the new campaign. Popular NBA sports betting sites thought no one can stop the Bucks’ forward and this might be the case.

The fresh first-time father is having an exceptional season and he still is the number one candidate for the MVP title. However, there are several other players that have enough time to turn it around and put a strong claim of their own.

Let’s take a look at each of them.

LeBron James

The 2018-19 NBA regular season was one of the worst in LeBron’s career. The King failed to qualify for the playoffs and suffered from injuries for most of the campaign. Many thought this could be the beginning of the end.

It’s hard to blame them because LeBron is now 35 and, on paper, should be on a decline. Someone forgot to tell James that fact and the Lakers superstar is having one of the best seasons of his decorated career.

The man is averaging about 25 points, almost 11 assists and almost 8 rebounds every night. And he does that by spending around 35 minutes on the floor, shooting efficiently from all over the court.

His individual brilliance has resulted in plenty of wins for the LA Lakers and the team is leading the stacked Western Conference. The top seed for the playoffs will most likely go to the organization and LeBron is arguably the main reason for the regular season success of the Lakers.

The only problem is that he doesn’t stand out the same way Giannis does for the Bucks. The Greek Freak is the sole leader of the team, while LeBron is part of a dynamic duo with Anthony Davis.

And yet, if the performance of Giannis drops or he gets injured and misses some games, LeBron James is the man most likely to snatch the MVP award.

Luka Doncic

Many people were surprised that Luka Doncic wasn’t the undisputed top pick in last year’s NBA draft. The Slovenian has been playing against grown men since his teenage years and arrived in the USA with a lot of accolades from his time on the other side of the ocean.

If there were any doubts in Luka’s ability to adapt to the NBA, they were gone after the youngster won the Rookie of the Year award in 2019.

What followed this season is something that even the biggest fans of Luka Doncic couldn’t have predicted. The boy became suddenly became a man and broke numerous records set by the likes of Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and other legends of the game.

This is probably the best player at his age the NBA has ever seen. Luka is averaging almost 29 points, close to 10 rebounds, and 9 assists per game. His effective field goal percentage is up dramatically from last season and he’s the floor general of the most efficient offense in the NBA.

Furthermore, most people thought that Dallas would probably miss on the playoffs this season and the team will certainly participate in the post-season.

Unfortunately for Doncic, he suffered several injuries that caused him to miss more than 10 games already. His team also dropped in the rankings and likely won’t be able to earn a top 4 seed in the playoffs.

It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Luka won’t win at least one MVP award during his NBA career, but it probably won’t be this year. Unless he improves even further and leads the Mavericks to some insane run by the end of the regular season, Doncic will just miss on the prize.

James Harden

How do you ignore a player who scores more than 35 points per game on an effective field goal percentage higher than 54%?

That’s what happened with James Harden last year and the Houston Rockets star firmly believes he should’ve won the MVP award last season. This is probably part of the reason he’s putting even more insane numbers this season.

Harden is scoring 37 points per game and is leading the NBA in this category. He also adds about 7 assists and 7 rebounds every night he is on the floor. And yet, there are several reasons to believe that this won’t be his year.

For a start, the whole system of the Houston Rockets is built around him. The rest of the team pretty much is designed to space the floor and give Harden room to work his magic. The addition of Russell Westbrook added some variety to the offense, but the core remains the same.

On top of that, Harden had a slump recently that Giannis hasn’t yet experienced throughout the season and Westbrook has been the best player on the team. That puts the Beard in a bad position for the MVP award.

Conclusion

All of the guys mentioned here are having historical years and probably would’ve won the MVP award in another season. However, it’s tough to look beyond Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2019-20. He’s the best player on the best NBA team right now.

Unless he gets injured or suffers from a significant performance drop until the rest of the season, the Greek Freak should comfortably win another NBA Regular Season MVP Award.