Philadelphia 76ers star big man Joel Embiid had himself an incredible season becoming the first big man to lead the league in scoring since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000 and he is the first big man to average 30 points in a season since Moses Malone in 1982.
The big fella averaged 30.6 points and he carried the Sixers through a ton of adversity. From the Ben Simmons saga to the big James Harden trade, Embiid made sure the Sixers were competitive and contending for a championship despite what was thrown at them.
However, it wasn’t enough to win the MVP award as for the second straight season, Embiid came up short in the race to Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic. The Joker had himself another huge season averaging 27.1 points, 13.8 rebounds, and 7.9 assists, and led the Nuggets to a big season despite missing their second and third best players all season.
With that being said, Sixers and NBA Twitter believed Embiid was robbed as they had their best reactions to Jokic winning:
Eye Test = Joel Embiid for MVP!!!
Analytics = Jokic for MVP!!!
I’m glad I rolled with the EYE TEST on my vote.
Carry the hell on…
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) May 9, 2022
Let’s see the ballot so we can properly recognize which NBA media members completely destroyed their credibility by not voting for Joel Embiid and proving they don’t know a lick about basketball. https://t.co/QUFjZ0A1wo
— Brandon Lee Gowton (@BrandonGowton) May 9, 2022
Joel Embiid’s presence last night, even on a subpar shooting night, was one of the reasons I voted him MVP. The Sixers are a completely different team when he plays.
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) May 7, 2022
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