Shayne Jackson of the Georgia Swarm is the 2019-20 National Lacrosse League MVP, the league announced during its two-hour awards presentation on Twitter last night.
Despite playing six fewer games this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jackson tied the 31 goals he scored last year and added 42 assists for 73 points — third in the league behind Callum Crawford (76) and Mitch Jones (74). Crawford and Rob Hellyer were the other finalists for the award.
As part of our season preview, US Lacrosse Magazine contributor Jack Goods predicted Crawford would win the league MVP award.
When COVID-19 shut down the remainder of the NLL regular season (it eventually prevented the NLL from holding playoffs, too), Georgia was second in the East Division at 7-5. Jackson, the No. 4 pick in the 2012 NLL draft, was three points ahead of Randy Staats for the team lead while posting a shooting percentage of .208.
Jackson scored at least five points in all but one game, a three-point outing on March 7 in an 11-7 win over the Riptide. He recorded nine hat tricks.