Antetokounmpo is having an MVP season
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s NBA Cup Finals opponent, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver’s Nikola Jokic, are understandably in the MVP conversation a quarter of the way through the regular season. But in three days in Las Vegas, Antetokounmpo added to his already pretty convincing case for taking home his third NBA MVP trophy. He has been phenomenal all season, averaging 32.7 points, 11.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists, including a triple-double with 19 rebounds in Tuesday’s 97-81 win. But his status line doesn’t exist in a vacuum. He looks more dominant than ever, if not more so. And he’s been deadly from midrange this year (as Kevin Garnett gave him props over the weekend), which greatly complements his near-unstoppable inside game. It has become a thing. In Tuesday’s showdown between the MVP frontrunners, Giannis clearly looked like the best player on the floor.
elephant in the room
As one flies out of Las Vegas from Harry Reid International Airport, one finds oneself shopping for magazines and water bottles, staring blankly among a sea of zombies. And I feel like there’s always this weird silent elephant in the room. Everyone is hungover, but no one will admit it verbally. It was hard not to notice the NBA’s own elephant in the room in Las Vegas this weekend. It’s that there really isn’t a clear succession plan in basketball after LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. After Curry’s Warriors were eliminated in the quarterfinals and a true and proven needle mover was certain to be at the party in Las Vegas, there was a palpable collective gasp in the NBA media. . The inaugural tournament last year featured James and the Los Angeles Lakers. Both teams have been at the top of the NBA’s popularity rankings for decades. No such luck this year. While these four teams (Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Houston Rockets, and Atlanta Hawks) certainly provided entertaining basketball for die-hard fans, the brutal truth is that neither Shai Gilgeous-Alexander nor Antetokounmpo will be the next generation of stars. That means it’s not even close to that. Until reaching the heights of popularity of James and Curry. Perhaps for reasons unknown, they have no juice. The NBA has a marketing problem for its young stars that doesn’t seem any closer to being resolved than it did a few years ago, but as James, Curry and Durant approach retirement, the problem will only become more urgent. .
The value of Isaiah Hartenstein
I’m old enough to remember just a few months ago when pundits were making desperate moves over Isaiah Hartenstein’s three-year, $87 million contract. If the last few days in Las Vegas have made anything clear, it’s that the 26-year-old center (who the Thunder plucked from the clutches of the New York Knicks in free agency) was worth every penny. . He’s a top-class example of a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none, exactly the type of hard-playing Swiss Army knife center the Thunder sorely lacked last season. Despite Oklahoma City’s blowout loss in Tuesday’s final, Hartenstein finished with 16 points and 12 boards, matching the times of the Thunder’s second-best player. There is some speculation that if Chet Holmgren, who is currently sidelined with a hip injury, returns to action, he could end up coming off the bench. But the Thunder would be wise to think twice about that, as it has become clear that Hartenstein will play a pivotal role in Oklahoma City’s success this postseason.
Amen, Amen to Thompson
The Rockets had a bit of a disappointing performance in their first trip to Las Vegas for the Cup. At times, Houston’s young team lost decisively to an Oklahoma City team that looked like a step up version. , an athletic, defensive-minded template. But the clear bright spot was sophomore small forward Armen Thompson. Not only is he an incredible defender and a great athlete (which was well understood on draft night), he’s a player who is really starting to emerge as an offensive force. good. After Saturday’s game, Thompson was talked about despite the loss. Houston absolutely needs to consider him a foundational piece of any core to advance their championship aspirations.
you need a man™️
There’s no better environment than a high-stakes environment to expose roster flaws. The Rockets, the energetic and formidable young firecracker on the team, had their flaws exposed this weekend. As games get tighter and time gets shorter, knowing you have A Guy™️ is so important. A Guy™️ is one of those guys on the team who can find a way when the ball is in his hands. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is that player in Oklahoma City. The Hawks have Trae Young, the Bucks have Giannis (and Damian Lillard as well). Despite having a wealth of exciting young talent, Houston has been bewildered and simply failed to perform, and that fact was never more evident than in Saturday’s semifinal loss to the Thunder. That never happened. With trade season officially starting and names like Jimmy Butler and Zach LaVine reportedly on the table, the Rockets would be well served to go looking for their own Guy™️.
Shai Gilgeous = Alexander the Great
NBA awards voting involves a lot of nuance, and the frontrunners for MVP are more likely to tell a compelling story than an actual time capsule of who was the best player in the league that year ( (cough, cough, Russell Westbrook) is not uncommon. But besides literal awards, one such adjacent measure is the evergreen barbershop debate about which players in the league can comfortably be counted on to be the best players on championship teams. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander showed that he absolutely ticks the boxes, despite a somewhat disappointing (by his unfathomable standards) performance in the Cup Final. Against Houston in the semifinals on Saturday, he played his game by maxing out his signature slider, tearing through their formidable defense and getting the shots he wanted with surprising ease, making him say, “Oh,” and ” It seemed as if he was eliciting an “Ah!” voice. His ball-handling skills earned him praise from the crowd: “One thing is clear: Alexander is, without a doubt, a bona fide superstar.
Trying to realize “The Cup”
Traditions often float in a timeless space, feeling as if they have always existed, without needing a clear beginning. But the reality is that everything has to start somewhere, and nothing can replicate the gravity that only long history can provide. Even the prestigious NBA Championship has that weight only because we came together and decided it mattered. Despite the NBA’s most convincing opposition support, backed by Rosario Dawson and financed by Emirates, the NBA Cup still doesn’t matter that much. The artificial pomp and circumstance, and the hefty sponsorship money and advertising surrounding it, are proof that the league really wants it to matter right now, but there’s no substitute for the passage of time. Someday it will start to make sense organically, but that time is not now. So that legacy isn’t really about the players in this year’s Cup, or even next year’s Cup. They are ultimately doing the dirty work by laying the foundation and creating the history that will bring respect to this event years from now.
