It was announced today that Nikola Jokic has won the Most Valuable Player Award for the second season in a row, making him the 13th player in NBA history to do so. Jokic had an impressive season, averaging 27.1 points per game throughout the 2021-2022 NBA season.
While Jokic played well all season and was without Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., his MVP award is a gigantic snub to Joel Embiid, who has proven himself to be the best center in the NBA. Embiid, who averaged 30.6 points per game, won the NBA Scoring Title (the first time a center has won the award since Shaq in the 1999-2000 season), and carried his team to the playoffs in a season that’s first months were plagued by the disease known as Ben Simmons.
Simmons notoriously refused to play for the first half of the season, leaving the Sixers without their point guard. Embiid managed to keep the Sixers in play throughout the first half of the season before the Sixers were able to get rid of Ben Simmons and acquired James Harden in a trade with Brooklyn on February 10th. Since then, the Sixers pushed into a 4 seed playoff spot where they beat the Toronto Raptors in six games and are now tied in a 2-2 series with the Miami Heat.
The Sixers are 2-0 in this series with Embiid. Joel has been playing with a torn thumb ligament, and despite being concussed and fracturing his orbital bone, he returned for game three and four to tie up the series after his team had gone down 0-2. His presence on the court is so clearly imperative for a successful Sixers team, which is why Jokic’s MVP award is such an obvious and egregious snub of the person who truly deserved it.
