This year's MVP race was one of the competitive in recent NBA history and the 3 finalists Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo were all deserving of the award. Near the end of the regular season it became increasingly likely that it was Embiid's award to lose. This was due in part to the fact that he led the league in scoring averaging over 30.6 points per game. This was the the first time a Center has accomplished such a feat since the great Shaquille O'Neal in the 99-00 season. Embiid put up these numbers while leading his team to a 51-31 record in a deep eastern conference where he had to play great nearly every night for his team to win. Despite his incredible season, Nikola Jokic was awarded his second straight MVP award. There is no doubt Jokic was deserving of the award but many still seemed rather surprised by the result. Because of that fact the question ultimately remains where one would have to ask was Embiid snubbed?
If we are going to question whether or not Embiid was snubbed I believe it is important to also reflect on how great Jokic was to get an idea on how tight the race for MVP really was. Nikola Jokic is a generational talent who is one of the most skilled seven footers that the game has ever seen. With his incredible passing ability along with being able to shoot from anywhere is a testament to his versatility on the offensive end. Jokic backed up his MVP performance last season by having an even better year by averaging a career 27.1 points per game along with 13.8 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game. Similar to Embiid, he had to deal with a star teammate not being able to play in Jamal Murray who missed the entire season due to an ACL injury. Impressively, even with missing pieces, Jokic still managed to lead the Nuggets to a 48-34 record. This was good enough for the 6th seed in the West where they matched up with Golden State Warriors in the first round. Though they would go on to lose the series in 5 games, it takes nothing away from the incredible season Jokic had to carry his team to the playoffs.
For many players and fans like myself who were in support of Joel Embiid winning league MVP; weren't upset at the results not because Jokic won but, because the criteria of who deserves the award seems skewed. Both Embiid and Jokic were in similar positions in the fact that their teams needed them to play great in order to win games. With them both being in similar circumstances the fact that Embiid's Sixers had a better record than Jokic's Nuggets. Also, when you take into account the player's skillset both are dominant offensive Centers and Embiid had the edge in the scoring category. Additionally when you factor in defense, most people would consider Embiid the superior defensive player due to his athleticism and shot blocking ability. Most importantly, when judging MVP candidates a lot of emphasis is put into who had the best narrative over the course of the season. In the case of Embiid, he had to deal with the drama surrounding Ben Simmons all the way up to the trade deadline when he was eventually traded. Even after the trade where the Sixers acquired James Harden, they still had to find a way to build chemistry in a short amount of time as the Sixers made a playoff push.
The most surprising part of the MVP results was the disparity in voting with Jokic earning 65 out of 100 votes 1st place votes while Embiid earned just 26 which I felt undervalued how close the award race truly was. An argument could be made that Giannis was the most disrespected finalist since he had just 9 first place votes despite being the reigning Finals MVP and leading the Bucks to the 3rd seed in the east. This is why the criteria of the award should be clearly explained for us to better understand what goes into the voting process for such a coveted award. Ultimately, due to his overall performance along with the adversity he dealt with throughout the season I feel Embiid was snubbed for the MVP award.
Source: MaxaMillion711 YouTube Channel
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