Ranking Giannis Antetokounmpo's Top 3 defensive seasons so far in the NBA based on his Defensive Rating

#2 Giannis Antetokounmpo's 2018-19 NBA season

Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2019.

During Giannis Antetokounmpo's first NBA MVP-winning campaign, in the 2018-19 NBA season, he arguably deserved to win both the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year awards.

Ultimately, he finished second in the DPOY voting behind Utah Jazz's Rudy Gobert. He put up a 99.4 Defensive Rating that year, which ranked second in the league, two spots ahead of Gobert's.

Moreover, Antetokounmpo led the best defensive team in the 2018-19 regular season as the Milwaukee Bucks finished first in Defensive Rating in the entire NBA.

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#1 Giannis Antetokounmpo's 2019-20 NBA season

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 06: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers is guarded by Giannis Antetokounmpo #34 of the Milwaukee Bucks during the third quarter at Staples Center on March 06, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.

Giannis Antetokounmpo's 2019-20 NBA season was set to be the best of his career after an incredibly dominant NBA campaign. The Greek superstar went on to win the NBA MVP award for the second consecutive time and his defense could simply not be ignored again.

Antetokounmpo won the Defensive Player of the Year award that year, after leading the NBA in Defensive Rating with a tremendous 97. He was the only player in the entire league to have a Defensive Rating below 100 among the qualified players (those with at least 1,500 minutes played).

Giannis Antetokounmpo became the third player to win the NBA MVP and DPOY awards in the same season during the 2019-20 campaign. Michael Jordan did it in the 1987-88 season (while also winning the scoring title) and Hakeem Olajuwon won his only MVP in the 1993-94 season and his second DPOY that same year (and also won Finals MVP honors and the NBA title).

Apart from leading the league in Defensive Rating, Giannis Antetokounmpo was first in Defensive Win Shares and Defensive Box Plus/Minus. He was obviously chosen as a member of the All-Defensive first team after winning the DPOY over Anthony Davis of the LA Lakers (75 first-place votes to 14).

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