Everybody has their opinion on Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid. The big fella is a polarizing player who has his supporters, but he also has a lot of people who will criticize his game.
Even with all of that, after the season that he had, it’s hard not to include him on the All-NBA First Team. He led the league in scoring at 30.6 points per game, the first big man to lead the league in scoring in 22 years and the first big man to average 30 in a season since 1982, and he endured a lot in the 2021-22 season just to make sure the Sixers were competitive.
Despite the obvious accolades, Embiid finished on the All-NBA Second Team for the second consecutive year.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has been a big Embiid guy all season and he believes the big fella was snubbed from the All-NBA First Team:
Did Joel Embiid get snubbed as a First Team All-NBA? Yes, he did. I believe what what he had to endure this year with the nonsense that Ben Simmons created with all of that stuff going on in Philadelphia and then ultimately a James Harden coming into the squad at the expense of Simmons and Seth Curry and Andre Drummond and two first round picks and all the stuff that he had to go through still playing the way that he played, still having the Philadelphia 76ers be the threat that they were. We don’t know what would have happened to the Miami series. Had Joel Embiid hurt his thumb, A and B, cracked a bone in his face that ultimately forced him to miss the first two games of that series against the Miami Heat. Who knows what would have happened because we saw what kind of impact he had the next two games that he showed up. So let’s take that into consideration as well.
At this point, Embiid will just have to use this as motivation for his future. He also finished as the runner-up for MVP for the second consecutive season so these are some things that he can use as motivation for his future.
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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