The Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid has been great this season.
He’s leading the league in scoring with 33 points per game and he is top 10 in rebounds and blocks, with 10.2 and 1.7 per game, respectively.
His team is also playing well as they are currently third in the Eastern Conference.
But is he MVP material?
According to the team’s head coach, Doc Rivers, Embiid is the clearcut MVP.
After a 52-point game that led to a win against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday, Rivers told reporters that the “MVP race is over” after his superstar center scored more than half of the team’s points.
Via The Score:
"The MVP race is over. ... The man just scored half our points in an NBA game," Rivers told reporters postgame. "And I'm biased. But the MVP race is over."
Though Rivers admits that he is biased, he’s not the only person of prominence who believes Embiid is the best player in the NBA this season.
Golden State superstars Steph Curry -who is a former MVP- and Draymond Green also share the same sentiment.
A few days ago, Curry was asked by Chris Haynes who he would pick for MVP. He said that if he were to pick, he would go with The Process.
Via Bleacher Report:
“I would say Joel,” Curry told Bleacher Report.
“Any person you pick, their body of work could be compared to Jokić or Giannis. But Joel took a leap that I think a lot of people didn’t expect because he was dominant already. That leap turned heads and put Philly in a great position. If I had to pick, it would be him.”
As for Green, he said on his podcast, The Draymond Green Show, a few weeks ago that the award is Embiid’s to lose.
Via The Score:
"Right now in the MVP race, I think it's Joel. I think it's Joel's award to lose," Green said. "I think the way he loses that award is his team starts losing, because Joel's gonna put up Joel numbers, Joel gonna do what Joel been doing. It's Joel's award to lose.
"It's interesting how much things are changing. You look at the standings, they're changing. You look at this MVP stuff, it's changing. Joel should get his first MVP this year. I don't expect Philly to hit some crazy losing streak, and be that they won't do that, it should be Joel's to lose."
Additionally, ESPN’s Tim Legler believes that Embiid is the most valuable player because of his hustle on the defensive end.
On the Old Man and the Three podcast, Legler described a defensive sequence against the Cleveland Cavaliers that Embiid was a part of to JJ Reddick and said that the center’s commitment to denying the shot was when he went all in on Embiid’s campaign for MVP.
He also said that Nikola Jokic and Embiid have similar offensive numbers. So, Embiid’s defensive numbers are the differentiating factor in his choice.
Final Thoughts
All of these arguments for Embiid are great.
But I personally still think that Jokic should win the MVP title this year.
The first reason why is that I’m a Jokic fanboy.
The second reason why is that I think the Denver Nuggets need Jokic more than the 76ers need Embiid.
If you compare all of the games that the two players missed, the 76ers won more than they lost in Embiid’s absence (9 wins, 5 losses), whereas the Nuggets lost more than they won in Jokic’s absence (4 wins, 7 losses).
This shows me that Jokic is more valuable to his team than Embiid is and this is why he is the MVP.
But these are just my thoughts.
Who do you think deserves to win the first-ever Michael Jordan trophy?
Support the Newsletter
Looking for a new book to read?
Check out this list of the best books recommended by the best basketball players in the world.
Click here to view the recommendations on the blog.
Read These Articles
Betting, Luxury Tax and an In-Season Tournament: Five Takeaways From the NBA's New CBA
Paul George says he was almost a Cavalier with LeBron in 2017