The MVP debate was filled with discourse over the entirety of the 2022-23 season before Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid took home the award. There was a great deal of debating between advocates for him and those for Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic. And, inevitably, there was a lot of mudslinging as the months dragged on.
Even more criticisms arose after Embiid and the Sixers lost in the second round of the postseason while Jokic and the Nuggets are headed to the finals. The Joker took home Western Conference finals MVP honors as Denver has reached the finals for the first time in its franchise’s history.
After the Game 4 clincher over the Los Angeles Lakers, Jokic was asked to compare the conference finals MVP award to his two league MVP awards. Jokic gave his answer before defending Embiid from the critics. He called Embiid a worthy MVP:
To be honest, this is just — I don’t know. I don’t think about MVPs anymore. I think people are just mean in saying that Embiid shouldn’t have won it. He should have won it. I think he was playing, if you watched it, extremely tough basketball all season. … He was really amazing in 82 games, or how many games he played.
The noise is always going to be there, but Embiid had himself one helluva season. He averaged 33.1 points on ridiculous efficiency, 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists. Everybody is always going to bring up postseason failures, but at the end of the day, the MVP is a regular-season award and it’s about what is done during those 82 games. Embiid earned his award in 2023.
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