Speaking on his podcast, former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas made the decade for Joel Embiid as the best player in the game. Arenas even went so far as to say that the NBA’s new 65-game minimum rule is the only thing holding him back from keeping pace with Nikola Jokic.
“Nobody gonna remember the part of history this came in. He lost his MVP because of a rule,” said Arenas. “He’s not going to be put into history fairly and it makes me think about the past, things that happened in the game that we are looking at these stats as legit when some of the stats for these people wasn’t legit because something happened to someone else… he’s gonna be one of those guys. He’s probably the best player in the league, him and Jokic are fighting for who is number one but I don’t think his legacy is gonna mirror that. When you’re talking about them two battling each other, Embiid has beat this man’s a**. And if you put the 65-game rule in and then go back across the board, you will see that a lot of these accolades would have been taken away.”
Joel Embiid was on track to win his second-straight MVP last season with averages of 34.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game on 52.9% shooting. He was setting a historic scoring pace before a mid-season injury sidelines him for months. By the time he came back, it was too late to win MVP and his 39 games played on the season meant he couldn’t qualify for any personal accolades.
The NBA imposed this policy for the first time in the 2023-24 campaign, restricting candidates for the major NBA awards to only those who have played in at least 65 games or more. That accounts for a 79% attendance minimum to qualify for MVP, Sixth Man of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and Clutch Player of the Year.
With this rule in effect for the foreseeable future, it will surely block Embiid from further MVP pursuits. Dating back to 2014, Joel has only had two seasons where he played 65 games or more, one of which was his MVP campaign where he averaged 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game on 54.7% shooting.
Of course, those two seasons were followed by injury-plagued playoff runs that saw the 76ers fall apart during the most important stretch of games.
In truth, this 65-game rule is a losing situation all around for Embiid and he believes he might be in the GOAT territory if injuries weren’t a factor. But if he wants to keep his name in the yearly MVP conversation, he’ll have to commit to playing more games and being more available on the floor. But if he wants to win the title, preservation may be key which means an extensive reload management plan to keep his body in check.
Sacrifices are to be made either way, but it’s unfortunate that Joel Embiid’s superior talent is being held back by his weak durability. If we remembered him strictly on his game, Embiid would be considered the second coming of Shaq.
But until he can get healthy and make a run when it matters most, his legacy will never stack up against stars like Jokic, who are seemingly made of steel and have already accomplished so much.
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