Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers has received the NBA MVP award for the first time in his career.
Embiid defeated two-time NBA MVP award winners and finalists, Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo and Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić.
Keith Pompey from the Philadelphia Inquirer provided the voting results which showed that Embiid secured 73 of 100 first-place votes for the historic win. Jokić clinched second place ahead of Antetokounmpo.
The 76ers Center averaged a League-high 33.1 points on 54.8 per cent shooting, 10.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game this season. He propelled the 76ers to a third-place mark in the Eastern Conference with a 54-28 record.
Embiid did nothing both dominated during the home stretch, with the highlight of this period being a 52-point, 13-rebound game against the Boston Celtics on 4th April. He also had a 10-game stretch from March 2-20 where he averaged 36.2 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per contest.
Joel proved himself to be the best player in the NBA in the final months, shooting the 76ers into one of the spots for the NBA’s top title contenders.
He is the first player from his team to the named MVP since Allen Iverson in 2001. He is the third Philadelphia center to receive the award after Wilt Chamberlain and Moses Malone.
Embiid beat out some tough players to get this titled.
Antetokounmpo was the best player on the best regular-season team this season. The Milwaukee Bucks finished with an NBA-leading 58-24 to win over the Boston Celtics for first place in the Eastern Conference.
Milwaukee felt his impact better this year, especially with three-time All-Star Khris Middleton absent most of the season with injuries. Antetokounmpo needed to play at his top form, and that was what he did and more on the journey to leading the Bucks to a great regular-season run.
Giannis averaged 31.1 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game.
Jokić on his own part, according to perFiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR player ratings is No.1 in RAPTOR WAR (wins above replacement) with 20.4. The second closest to this record is Embiid at 13.3.
Based on Basketball-Reference, Jokić lead the league in VORP (value over replacement player), BPM (box plus/minus), PER (player efficiency rating), true shooting percentage and win shares (total and per 48 minutes).
Nikola led the Nuggets to their first-ever first-place regular-season finish in the Western Conference after Denver secured a 53-29 mark.
Although all three finalists had great records that could win them the award, it was Joel Embiid who win it all this year.
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