Philadelphia 76ers middle and league scoring champion Joel Embiid earned his first NBA MVP trophy Tuesday night time, topping two-time winner Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
The 29-year-old from Yaoundé, Cameroon, averaged 33.1 factors to win his second straight scoring title, averaged 10.2 rebounds and tied a profession excessive with 4.2 assists per recreation.
Embiid performed in 66 video games, the second-highest complete of his profession, however once more has been hit with accidents within the playoffs.
Embiid has been sidelined with a sprained proper knee that price him one recreation of the playoff sweep in opposition to Brooklyn and the opening recreation of the Jap Convention semifinals in opposition to Boston, which was received by Philadelphia on Monday night time.
Jokic completed runner-up and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks was third. Embiid acquired 73 first-place votes. Jokic acquired 15 first-place votes, and Antetokounmpo acquired 12.
“It’s been a very long time coming,” Embiid stated. “Lots of laborious work. I’ve been by loads. I’m not simply speaking about basketball. I’m speaking about my life. My story. The place I come from. How I acquired right here and what it took for me to be right here.”
The 76ers watched on TV in Boston and erupted in applause and began chanting “MVP! MVP! ” as the large man buried his head in his arms as he sat in a chair.
Embiid was in tears as teammates James Harden, Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey mobbed him in celebration.
Embiid then vowed “I’ll be again” for the playoff sequence in opposition to the Celtics.
However as for Sport 2 on Wednesday night time?
“We will see,” Embiid stated.
Embiid has been decided to win — and campaigned for — the MVP trophy for years. The third total choose of the 2014 draft, Embiid missed his first two full seasons with accidents earlier than settling in as one of many prime massive males of his technology. He was at his finest this season when he totaled three 50-point video games, together with a career-high 59 in opposition to Utah in November. He had 13 complete 40-point video games.
When Embiid totaled 52 factors and 13 rebounds in a win in opposition to the Celtics in April, coach Doc Rivers boldly declared, “The MVP race is over.”
Embiid definitely didn’t argue that night time along with his coach or Sixers teammates who stumped on his behalf.
“They’re most likely proper,” Embiid stated. “However we’ve greater targets in thoughts.”
Embiid is the primary 76er to win league MVP since Allen Iverson in 2001. Julius Erving in 1981, Moses Malone in 1983 and Wilt Chamberlain from 1966-1968 are different 76ers to win NBA MVP awards.
Embiid’s harm might be the deciding issue within the 76ers’ chase for the NBA championship. The Sixers try to win their first NBA title since 1983 and advance previous the second spherical for the primary time since 2001 — which was the final time a Sixer received the MVP award.
Allen Iverson was named league MVP in 2001. Different 76ers to seize the league’s prime particular person award: Julius Erving, 1981; Moses Malone, 1983; and Wilt Chamberlain, 1966-1968.
Embiid, who graduated from a Florida highschool and performed a season in school at Kansas, has been each bit the dominant pressure within the NBA over the previous seven seasons. As soon as the poster little one for load administration, Embiid has performed 134 regular-season video games the final two seasons and his 30.6 factors final season made him the primary worldwide participant ever to win an NBA scoring title. He’s a six-time All-Star and was runner-up every of the final two seasons to Jokic.
Antetokounmpo received in 2019 and 2020. Jokic in 2021 and 2022.
Now, the award belongs to Embiid, who didn’t choose up a basketball till he was an adolescent in Africa, when a pal knowledgeable him that only a few 7-footers achieve soccer.
Just a few months later, Embiid was lured to a basketball camp within the capital of Yaounde run by NBA veteran Luc Mbah a Moute, one among simply two gamers from Cameroon to have performed within the NBA. Mbah a Moute persuaded Embiid’s mother and father to let him transfer 6,000 miles to Florida, and helped enroll him at Montverde Academy, among the finest highschool packages within the nation. He performed simply 28 video games in his lone season at Kansas earlier than leaving for the NBA.
“I’m completely thrilled for Joel on profitable the MVP award. He’s the actual deal and deserves each little bit of recognition that comes his means,” Rivers stated. “He embodies all the pieces that the dignity stands for. His drive to enhance is unmatched, and just like the saying ‘a dream doesn’t grow to be actuality by magic, it takes laborious work’, he’s put within the work.”
Embiid, who grew to become an American citizen final yr, was identified early in his profession for sucking down Shirley Temples however has labored with sports activities dietitians to develop more healthy consuming habits and streamlined his exercises.
Sixers followers can take pleasure in him for years. Embiid’s four-year, $196 million contract extension doesn’t kick in till subsequent season and takes him by 2026-27.
The affable middle grew to become the face of the 76ers’ rebuilding effort extra generally often called The Course of. He embraced the nickname and is launched earlier than each residence recreation as Joel “The Course of” Embiid.
He can now add MVP.
Billboards went up round Philadelphia of Embiid with the slogan “MVPIID” and Sixers followers serenaded him with “MVP!” chants from pregame introductions all the best way to his remaining free throw makes an attempt.
Embiid, who shares along with his long-time girlfriend a son named within the honor of his late brother, holds profession averages of 27.2 factors and 11.2 rebounds in 394 profession begins.
He’s a four-time All-NBA choice and three-time All-Defensive Staff choice.
That is the fifth consecutive yr a global participant has been MVP, extending the longest streak in NBA historical past. It’s additionally the second time that worldwide gamers completed 1-2-3 in MVP voting; the primary time was final season.
Embiid turns into the second winner from Africa, becoming a member of Hakeem Olajuwon, the Nigerian who received for Houston in 1994.
