On May 2, the NBA would announce that Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has won the Most Valuable Player award for the 2022-23 season. Embiid earned 73 first-place votes for the award, finishing ahead of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Embiid averaged 33.1 points per game on the season, making him the league's scoring champion for the second year in a row. He also put up 10.2 rebounds a game and 4.2 assists. He wins the award after a tightly-ran race throughout the season, with the common conversation in NBA media being a matter of Jokic versus Embiid. An ESPN poll released going into the All-Star break had Jokic with a major lead over Embiid. ESPN writes, "But between then and the final straw poll in late March, Jokic and the Nuggets struggled throughout the month, while Embiid went on an absolute tear after the All-Star break, sending Philadelphia charging up the standings while facing the league's most difficult schedule."
The Jokic-Embiid MVP race has gone three seasons, with Embiid controversially finishing second place in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 MVP votes. The 2023 season saw the Philadelphia favorite finally edge out Jokic for his first piece of hardware.
Embiid's MVP year was not without many highlight moments. On November 13, 2022, he dropped a historic statline of 59 points (a career-high for the big man), 8 assists, 11 rebounds, and 7 blocks, in a close victory over the Utah Jazz. In a showdown versus rival Jokic and the Nuggets on January 28, Embiid put up a commanding 47 points and 18 rebounds in the win. He would be selected to his 6th consecutive All-Star game, and would go on to put up 32 points in the game. Between March 2 and March 20, Embiid would put up 9 straight 30-or-more point games. He would win the Kia Player of the Month award for the months of January, March, and April.
Embiid is the seventh international player to win the MVP award, having been based and born in Cameroon. The international players who preceded him were Hakeem Olajuwon (1993-94), Tim Duncan (2001-02, 2002-03), Steve Nash (2005-06), Dirk Nowitzki (2006-07), Giannis Antetokounmpo (2018-19, 2019-20), and Nikola Jokic (2020-21, 2021-22). Embiid is also the fourth 76er to win the coveted award.
Embiid's road to the NBA was very improbable. He began playing basketball at age 15 in Cameroon, before being brought to the US the following year after being discovered by former NBA player Luc Mbah a Moute. He would be recruited to Kansas in 2012 as a 5-star recruit, before entering the 2014 NBA Draft after a very successful freshman season. However, Embiid would break a bone in his right foot and undergo grueling surgery, and the injury kept him sidelined the entirety of his first two seasons in the league.
"Probably the probability of someone like me, starting playing basketball at 15, to get the chance to be the MVP of the league is, I'd say, probably negative zero," Embiid stated, as reported by ESPN. "...We don't have a lot of opportunities back in Africa in general to get to this point. But improbable doesn't mean impossible, and you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. As long as you believe in it, and you know, keep working hard, anything can happen."
Embiid ultimately believed the MVP award finally being his is "validation". "I don't want to win this award because it's just the MVP," Embiid began. "I want to win it because it means a lot to me. I went through a lot and that's just a validation of everything, the sacrifices and everything you went through just paying off in some ways. Obviously winning a championship is going to be way better and we have that opportunity. But I'm just competitive. I want it all."
Needless to say, Embiid's teammates were lively about the announcement. James Harden gifted him a Rolex watch, with "23 MVP" engraved into it. A video posted to Twitter shows Embiid's teammates showering him with support following the announcement going public.
“I am absolutely thrilled for Joel on winning the MVP award. He is the real deal and deserves every bit of recognition that comes his way,” 76ers head coach Doc Rivers stated, as reported by NBA.com. “He embodies everything that the honor stands for. His drive to improve is unmatched, and like the saying ‘a dream doesn’t become reality through magic, it takes hard work’, he’s put in the work.”
The 29-year-old center is set to come back in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Celtics, as he is battling a right knee injury he suffered in the first round against the Brooklyn Nets. Embiid and the 76ers look to add yet another trophy to his collection, the Larry O'Brien championship trophy.
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