Fresh off a 15-point Game 4 playoff victory over the Orlando Magic on Monday, Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer couldn’t contain his excitement.
As he delivered some breaking news to reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo while surrounded by players and coaches in the locker room, he jumped on a table after sharing the details.
One day later, the NBA officially announced that Antetokounmpo was named the 2019-20 NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
“Usually when Coach wants to talk to us after a game, somebody messed up or somebody did something,” Antetokounmpo said Tuesday. “So in my head, I’m like, ‘OK.’ I’m looking around like, ‘Who did something?’ Because I know I didn’t do nothing.”
Antetokounmpo won the award in a landslide, receiving 75 first-place votes from a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters and earning 432 points total.
The 2018-19 NBA MVP, Antetokounmpo becomes the fifth player to win both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in his career, joining Kevin Garnett, Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan and David Robinson.
Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis came in second with 14 first-place votes (200 points), and Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, who won the award each of the past two seasons, finished third with six first-place votes (187 points).
Antetokounmpo, 25, anchored the best defensive team in the league in the Bucks, averaging 13.6 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal in 30.4 minutes per game. Milwaukee allowed only 96.5 points per 100 possessions with Antetokounmpo on the court, giving him the lowest defensive rating among the more than 300 players who averaged at least 15 minutes per game.