Antetokounmpo wins 2nd straight NBA MVP award

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Giannis Antetokounmpo’s historic year earned him a historic awards sweep.

A person with knowledge of the situation says the Milwaukee forward is the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season.

The 25-year-old Antetokounmpo becomes just the third player in league history to win MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, joining only Hall of Famers Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon.

Antetokounmpo’s numbers this season were unprecedented, with averages of 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game. Nobody had ever averaged those numbers over a full season; Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor both had seasons where they topped Antetokounmpo’s averages for points and rebounds, though both fell just shy of matching his assist average.

And the numbers weren’t inflated by big minutes, either. Antetokounmpo was fifth in the NBA in scoring, second in the league in rebounding — but only 71st in minutes per game. He led the Bucks to the NBA’s best record this season, before Milwaukee was ousted from the playoffs by Miami in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

“Giannis, in our minds, has done more than enough to deserve backto-back MVPs,” Bucks coach Mike

Budenholzer said when the team was in the NBA’s restart bubble at Walt Disney World this summer. “What he does for us on both ends of the floor, what he does every night, the way he sets the bar for us, culturewise, work ethicwise ... he’s an incredible teammate, plays unselfishly, does everything. And I think that’s kind of what the MVP is, so we certainly feel like he’s very deserving.”

NFL

SANTA CLARA — The San Francisco 49ers will be without All-Pro tight end George Kittle this week because of a sprained left knee.

Coach Kyle Shanahan said that Kittle won’t make the trip to face the New York Jets on Sunday after hurting his knee during a season-opening loss to Arizona.

Kittle played the second half of that game after being hit by Cardinals safety Budda Baker late in the second quarter while trying to catch an errant pass from Jimmy Garoppolo. But he was diagnosed with a sprained knee Monday and didn’t practice all week before being ruled out.

The Niners would have waited until Sunday to make that determination if they were at home but once they decided not to bring him on the trip, they ruled him out. Kittle will join them next week in West Virginia, where the team will spend the week before concluding an East Coast trip with a game against the Giants on Sept. 27.

NASCAR

BRISTOL, Tenn. — The final regular-season race of the Xfinity Series proved to be a preview of the upcoming playoffs as title contenders Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric dominated yet another event.

Briscoe passed Cindric with five laps remaining at Bristol Motor Speedway, pouncing when Cindric lost power steering. Briscoe raced to his series-best seventh victory of the year while regular-season champion Cindric slipped to a third-place finish.

Ross Chastain, poised for a probable promotion to the Cup Series with Chip Ganassi Racing, followed Briscoe past Cindric in the waning laps and finished second.

Briscoe is hoping for his own promotion to Cup with Ford and Stewart-Haas Racing, which has just one seat unfilled for 2021. Briscoe started the year chasing eight wins, the number he believes will earn him a Cup ride.

“I am so thankful we are back with race fans. It’s not the same without you guys,” Briscoe said.

Chastain finished second for the fifth time this season — he’s been runner-up three times to Briscoe — and lamented not using a bumpand-run on Cindric before Briscoe passed Chastain and executed the successful pass for the win.