Gilgeous-alexander, Jokic And Antetokounmpo Are Nba Mvp Finalists Jokic, Daniels Up For 2 Awards

It's now reasonable to think that Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo finished third in this season's balloting for the NBA MVP award.

The NBA released the three finalists for its major trophies on Sunday night, with Antetokounmpo on the MVP list alongside Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Denver's Nikola Jokic, the runaway frontrunners for the award.

Jokic was last season's MVP and is bidding for his fourth MVP award in the last five years. Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA's scoring champion this season and the leader of a Thunder team that won 68 games while setting a league record for scoring margin, is seeking his first MVP trophy.

They were considered such big favorites that BetMGM Sportsbook didn't even offer realistic odds toward the end of the regular season on anyone else winning. Gilgeous-Alexander was the favorite, Jokic was the second choice and nobody else had odds shorter than 500-1.

Given that All-NBA voting now essentially mirrors MVP voting, being an MVP finalist basically guarantees an All-NBA first-team nod. It'll be the ninth appearance on that team for Antetokounmpo, the seventh for Jokic and the third for Gilgeous-Alexander.