Giannis Antetokounmpo's only vote for 1st place NBA MVP came from a Greek reporter | News, results, highlights, stats and rumors

Every year, at least one NBA Awards voter makes headlines because his ballot deviates from the average.

This year, it was Greek journalist Tolis Kotzias who made several deviations on his ballot. He was the only media representative to vote Giannis Antetokounmpo as MVP, omit Luka Dončić entirely from his MVP ballot, and not vote Jalen Brunson to an All-NBA team.

Looking at Kotzias' ballot, Brunson's omission appears to be an error. Kotzias selected Brunson fourth on his NBA MVP ballot, so it would be incongruous if Brunson didn't appear on an All-NBA team – especially given that teams are currently position-less.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to find sufficient justification for the rest of the vote.

Antetokounmpo had far from his best season in 2023-24 as he and Damian Lillard tried to navigate their new power dynamic. The Bucks had just a 17-19 record under Doc Rivers after Adrian Griffin was fired midseason. Defense was the Bucks' biggest problem, which also made Kotzias' selection of Antetokounmpo to the All-Defensive first team odd.

Not only was Dončić not named to Kotzias' MVP ballot, the Dallas Mavericks star did not appear on his first-team All-NBA ballot either. Dončić was the NBA's leading scorer at 33.9 points per game and narrowly missed a triple-double average during the regular season.

Basketball may be in the eye of the beholder, but Kotzias' ballot caused a stir on social media.