Joel Embiid is Stephen A.’s choice for NBA MVP 🏆 | First Take
Stephen A. Smith is rolling with Joel Embiid for the NBA MVP Award.
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21 Comments
The Sixers are 10-5 without Embiid. That's Boston Celtics pace of winning. The Sixers are still good without Embiid and it's been proven over a large enough sample size. Like they have another top 10 candidate for MVP in James Harden for christ sake. Let's not act like Joel doesn't have an absolute legend and a first ballot hall of famer by his side.
On the other hand Denver is 5-8 when Jokic is out and the Nuggets minus Jokic combine for one career all-star appearance from a washed up DeAndre Jordan who barely even plays. So who's the most valuable player now?
Not to mention the fact that Jokic leads the league in basically every advanced stat, which is something that most MVP winners in history have in common. You lead the league in advanced stats, you win the MVP. It's been like that for so many years because those advanced stats really are good at measuring a player's impact on the game.
Jokic also missed the least number of games and his individual record (48-21) is better than Embiid's individual record (44-23).
Literally the only argument Joel has is points per game but with Jokic's 25 ppg on absurd 70% true shooting we all know that he can also average 33 if he just shot the ball as many times as Joel did.
And speaking of defense, Joel is not too much other than a rim protector and MVP is mostly an offensive award anyways. We have a whole another award for defense for a reason. This is an offense driven league and the best offensive player usually is the most valuable player.
It’s giannis. I think it’s close but I think it’s not as close as people are making it seem
Austin reaves by far deserves the 2022-2023 regular season nba mvp.
Fyi, if Embiid wins he'll be the first MVP in sports history who's team had a worse winning percentage when he played versus when he sat.
If he wins congrats, but he actually made his team lose at a higher rate when he played which is a mark he'll carry forever along with the fact he couldn't win it until Philly fans threatened boycotts of the NBA like children throwing a tantrum.
Not a Bucks fan, but Giannis actually made his team win at a higher rate.
They already showed their hand when the convo started to pop up that if Jokic wasn't white, he wouldn't have won back to back MVPs. Writing is on the walls that they won't give him a 3rd despite being 0.2 assists per game away from averaging a triple double. Affirmative action will make sure it's Embiid or Giannis this year.
Honestly all 3 deserve it
2 MVPS and voter fatigue already how ridiculous, the guy should have at least 3 MVPS as for Embiid the guy is getting a sympathy award
Jokic is more important to the Nuggets than Emiid is to the 76ers. A month ago, I say Jokic, now I say Giannis. But Embiid probably gets it because "its his turn."
All i’ve seen this year is how much games played don’t matter, but league record and defence suddenly matter. Honestly still can’t believe Embiid didn’t win it last year. It’s a joke.
A whole season crying for his MVP being stolen last year pays off for Joel.
It's not sympathy vote for me cause i voted for him last year… cmon bruh..
ESPN promoting Embiid 😂
Guys u have to understand that thing they have to change the scenario of getting MVP, if it would be everytime given for best player Lebron would have already 7-8MVP AWARDS. Just to remind 2018 for example.
Pathetic!!!! I thought Stephen A would do better than some pitty vote for embiid. Such a joke and clearly not deserved as much as giannis. Giannis has better stats. Best record in nba, better head to head record. Embiid has a previous mvp on his team giannis had his 2nd best player out 40 games. And giannis has better scoring in per 36…… literally not a single good argument for embiid other than pity. DISGRACE
Embid dropped out from playing denver on the 27th at the last moment. Why?? I think that should have some effect on the voting. He certainly was ready to play the next game..
Here’s the reality –
Many are supporting Giannis now because they know Jokic is t going to win it.
They simply despise anything Philly, even when Embiid full on deserves it.
Embiid is paying for this propaganda I swear. Joker is the mvp but people hate on em cuz he’s won twice in a row and cuz he’s white
Begging for an MVP is wild, real fans know it’s Giannis-Joker and then the big Crybaby
As a nuggets fan, my pick is giannis. He dominated and the carried the bucks. Embiid plays with a HOF
Media should not vote for the mvp. The players should, they know who the MVP really is.
The Sixers have a better winning percentage without Embiid than they have with him.
Embiid lead the league in scoring for the second straight season, this season he only has a 2ppg lead over Giannis who played less minutes – per 36, Giannis is +0.4ppg.
These aren’t great points to say Embiid over Antetokounmpo.
The ESPN article noting the finalists suggests that Jokic just finished the season averaging a triple double – 24.5ppg, 11.8rpg and 9.8apg is close – but it’s still 12 assists short in total.
That whole article is horribly written and indicates winners/front runners for each award.