I still remember the excitement building up as the 2019 NBA season unfolded, with fans and analysts alike debating who would claim the league's most prestigious individual honors. The MVP race particularly captured my imagination that year, watching Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden push each other to incredible heights throughout the season. As someone who's followed basketball for over two decades, I've always found the voting patterns reveal so much about how the game is evolving and what the basketball community values most in its superstars.
Giannis ultimately secured the MVP with 941 total points and 78 first-place votes, edging out Harden who received 776 points with 23 first-place votes. What struck me most was how the voting reflected the league's growing appreciation for two-way players - Giannis's defensive impact clearly resonated with voters despite Harden's historic scoring run of 36.1 points per game. Paul George finished a distant third with 434 points, though personally I felt his defensive contributions deserved more recognition. The All-NBA team selections followed similar patterns, with Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokić joining the three frontrunners on the First Team. I've always believed these selections tell us as much about positional evolution as individual excellence - seeing Jokić recognized as First Team center signaled a real shift in how the league values playmaking from the five spot.
The All-Star voting process that year particularly fascinated me because it perfectly illustrated the tension between fan popularity and professional assessment. LeBron James led all players with 4,620,809 fan votes in the Western Conference, while Giannis topped the East with 4,375,747. But when you looked at the media and player votes, the hierarchies shifted significantly. This dynamic reminds me of what we're seeing in international basketball too - like how the Filipina ballers bounced back from their 85-59 loss to host Chinese Taipei to improve to 1-1. That kind of resilience and adjustment is exactly what separates good players from true All-Stars.
Looking back at the complete voting breakdown, what stands out to me is how several players built compelling cases through consistency rather than flashy highlights. Damian Lillard's 613 points for All-NBA Second Team recognition demonstrated how sustained excellence over the season matters, even if it doesn't always generate the nightly highlights. Similarly, Rudy Gobert making the Third Team with 178 points highlighted how defensive anchors can accumulate respect throughout the year. I've noticed this pattern holds true across basketball levels - whether we're talking about NBA superstars or international teams finding their rhythm after tough losses.
The 2019 selections ultimately reflected basketball's ongoing evolution toward positionless basketball and two-way excellence. What stays with me years later is how these voting results captured a transitional moment in NBA history, where traditional positional definitions were blurring and defensive impact was gaining equal footing with offensive fireworks. The way Giannis's MVP campaign unfolded particularly reinforced my belief that the most valuable players are those who impact the game comprehensively rather than through isolated brilliance. These voting patterns continue influencing how we evaluate players today, shaping conversations about who truly drives team success in modern basketball.