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LAS VEGAS – The Most Valuable Player of the Emirates NBA Cup Championship trophy had arrived an hour earlier and stood as a proud, silent statement in front of an elated Giannis Antetokounmpo as he spoke to reporters.

Then came the question of the trophy, and to his credit, the Bucks star didn’t settle for the easy answer.

Does this award go to the best player or is it the leader of the team that wins?

Antetokounmpo was covered either way, mind you. He had led the Bucks to a 7-0 mark in group and knockout round games and capped it with a thorough 97-81 win over the stubborn Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Individually, he was great with a triple-double – 26 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists – including three blocks and two steals. So winning the unanimous MVP title might have been because of his stats and dominance, period.

But it’s inconceivable that Milwaukee could have shaken off a 2-8 start and navigated its current 13-3 run without Antetokounmpo leading the way.

“The Greek Freak” could have simply said “both” to the ambiguous question. Or he could have gone for the leadership aspect, which would be more palatable than the inherent bragging rights of being the best.

Instead, he thought about it and peeled back more layers.

Giannis Antetokounmpo, the #EmiratesNBACup MVP! pic.twitter.com/dsiwReEHrc

– NBA (@NBA) December 18, 2024

“When you approach a game like this, you don’t think about MVPs. They’re thinking about winning the game,” Antetokounmpo said. “And sometimes when you try to do whatever it takes, you put yourself in a position to be successful and win a trophy.

“I don’t know why I got the MVP. I’m glad I got it. I don’t take it for granted. I’m very happy that we won the game. Some of my teammates received life-changing money.”

Members of the winning team each received approximately $514,000 for the title game (with two-way players on the fringe of the roster receiving half that amount). Antetokounmpo shared that one of the Bucks’ two-way players, center Liam Robbins, a native of Davenport, Iowa, became something of a poster boy for the extra Cup money.

“We had this joke on the team about Liam that I promised him from the first Cup game, I said, ‘We’re going to go through with this whole thing and get you a house in Iowa,'” Antetokounmpo said. “So after every game I think, ‘Hey, one step closer to your house in Iowa.’

“After the game, I walked into the locker room and saw smiles on their faces.”

“Everyone got $500,000, right?!” 🤑 pic.twitter.com/zQru6oBZ7O

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 18, 2024

Giannis says his money is the profit of the #EmiratesNBACup is already gone 😂 pic.twitter.com/d2ZrZcBNrl

– NBA (@NBA) December 18, 2024

The Bucks star, along with LeBron James from the Los Angeles Lakers, are MVPs of the two Cup editions. James won the first trophy last December and, like Antetokounmpo, took the event, the competition, the prize money and the individual honor seriously from the start.

Antetokounmpo followed suit and was circling the Cup title at the start of group play. Given the still-evolving importance of the fledgling competition, it was a commitment the NBA certainly appreciated. It was a focus the Bucks needed to revitalize their season.

“I don’t think you can overcome the bad start,” said Milwaukee teammate Damian Lillard, “but we showed that the team we started the season with is not the team we are now, and it was never what we really were.”

Of Antetokounmpo, with whom his on-court chemistry has improved significantly, Lillard added: “I don’t think Giannis necessarily wanted to win the Cup (or the MVP). I think that’s exactly what he is. Just the background he comes from. His journey to becoming the superstar that he is is a tough one.

“So once you get to that point, you don’t want to stop.”

Coach Doc Rivers, who had not yet been hired by the Bucks when they fell to Indiana in the Cup semifinals last year, was asked how much working with Antetokounmpo played into his decision to move away from the TV sidelines last winter was. On a proverbial scale of 1 to 10.

“I mean, a 10, right?” Rivers said after the game. “To coach a Giannis, to coach a lady, to see that group, a veteran group, it’s a great opportunity for a coach. In this group you can coach them, they really do.

“They let you coach them hard. Nobody takes anything personal. I even said it last year that it was like training adults, if you know what I mean. They understand that you have to tell them the truth and they deal with it.”

Tuesday’s MVP competition was designed to be a star-versus-star situation between the two Cup finalists. Had OKC won, guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander likely would have secured the award. After the Bucks won, Antetokounmpo was the easy choice (with some wiggle room if Lillard had exploded offensively).

The Cup title and his MVP add to Antetokounmpo’s resume, which is already littered with accolades: Eight-time All-Star and All-NBA, five-time All-Defensive Team, Most Improved Player in 2017, Defensive Player of the Year in 2020, consecutive Kia NBA MVP Awards 2019 and 2020, All-Star Game MVP 2021, Finals MVP also year and a place in the NBA Top 75th anniversary team announced two years ago.

That’s a long road for the skinny kid from Athens, Greece, built like a Tootsie Pop, who the Bucks took 15th overall in 2013. In that time, Antetokounmpo has cobbled together a Hall of Fame legacy.

And the thing is, he never seemed happier – so happy, sure, but no happier – than he did on Tuesday.

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Steve Aschburner has been writing about the NBA since 1980. You can send him an email Herefind his archive here And Follow him on X.

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