Giannis Antetokounmpo: Damian Lillard’s immediate reaction to Giannis Antetokounmpo shortlisted for MVP Award

Damian Lillard’s immediate reaction to Giannis Antetokounmpo shortlisted for MVP Award

Modified Apr 21, 2025 19:27 GMT

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The NBA released its finalists for its season awards on Sunday, including the crown jewel of individual league honors, the Most Valuable Player award.

Giannis Antetokounmpo was among the three finalists for the award, along with Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Antetokounmpo's teammate, Damian Lillard, shared an Instagram story to congratulate his running mate.

Lillard reposted the congratulatory post from the Bucks to his Instagram story, adding three flexing emojis.

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Antetokounmpo put together another stellar campaign, posting per-game averages of 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds and 6.5 assists. He led the Bucks to a 48-34 record and the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.

This will mark the seventh consecutive season that Antetokounmpo has finished top five in MVP voting, including winning the award in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 campaigns.

Giannis Antetokounmpo “happy” about Damian Lillard returning to Bucks’ lineup

Damian Lillard has been inactive for the Milwaukee Bucks since March 18, when he was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis (blood clot). As this was the same that ended Victor Wembanyama's season, and prematurely truncated the already Hall of Fame career of Chris Bosh, the potential severity of the issue led the team not to put a time frame on Lillard’s potential return, listing the All-Star guard as out indefinitely.

Lillard has made remarkable strides in his recovery and was cleared to return, with the hope that he may be available for Game 2 of the Bucks ' first-round series against the Indiana Pacers.

On Saturday, when asked about the pending return of his star running mate, Giannis Antetokounmpo said:

“Great news. I’m happy for him, that he’s healthy, that he’s cleared now and able to come back and play basketball.

"He’s a big part of our team, one of the best players in the league. Hopefully, whenever he’s ready, Game 4, Game 5 or Game 6, he can come back and elevate our team and help us win games.”

Lillard and his career 26.1 ppg in the postseason are already sorely missed. Despite the efforts of Antetokounmpo, who poured in 36 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, the Bucks were handily dispatched by the Pacers 117-98 in Game 1 of their opening-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Antetokounmpo was the sole Milwaukee starter in double figures, with two starters, Taurean Prince and Kyle Kuzma, posting goose eggs.

Game 2 of the series takes place Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

About the author

Brandon King is an NBA and WNBA journalist at Sportskeeda with a Bachelor's degree in studio art. His education played a role in his becoming a basketball writer as Brandon wanted to get into sneaker design. As basketball and sneakers have an unbreakable link, that combined his fandom of both areas and made for a natural fit.

Brandon has over 7 years of experience at sneakershoptalk.com. and has also covered the game at HHBCU Sports. He has conducted interviews with athletes, coaches and members of athletic and conference administration.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar was his first favorite player and as he was on his way out of the league, Brandon became mesmerized by all the things he could do on the court. Brandon's all-time favorite player was Michael Jordan, and he has been a Bulls fan ever since that era.

When not watching or writing about basketball, Brandon likes lifting weights, spending time with family, writing about sneakers and playing basketball.

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Edited by Ribin Peter