The 2022 NBA MVP race was one of the closest ones that we saw in recent history. Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic had terrific seasons and made a good case for winning the MVP award.
While the majority of the crowd believed that Joel Embiid deserved the nod and win his first-ever MVP award. But that’s not what happened. Nikola Jokic won the second consecutive MVP award of his career.
No offense to Jokic, he’s had a tremendous season and he’s played extremely well. He carried the Denver Nuggets to the playoffs without their second-best player available. But to be fair, Embiid did the same for most of the season and ultimately, led the 76ers to a better record and seed in the loaded Eastern Conference.
As a result, this announcement by the NBA has caused a lot of uproar in the community. Former NBA player Etan Thomas wrote about it in his recent piece and urged the league should have announced the two players as co-MVPs.
Via Basketball News:
“So before I get into what I have to say, this is no slight or disrespect to Jokic in any way, shape or form. The NBA has never had co-MVPs in the regular season. There have been plenty of times when there was a strong case for it, but it’s never actually happened.
With that being said, what Joel Embiid accomplished this year was worthy of at least strong consideration for co-MVP, if not winning the MVP award flat-out by himself.”
He further wrote, “It’s important to note that, throughout Embiid’s career, there have been many people who have written him off due to injuries that were beyond his control, questions of whether he was in shape, management issues of his own and a host of other issues. But this season, he proved all of his doubters wrong.
Not to mention, while Denver barely avoided being swept by the Golden State Warriors in the first round, the 76ers have managed to tie their series against the Miami Heat at two games apiece; it’s mostly due to the fact that Embiid somehow miraculously returned to play after missing the first two games of the series with a broken thumb, a right orbital fracture and concussion sustained in the first round.”
Most of the points that Thomas made were exactly to the point and correct. Like he said, no one means any disrespect to Jokic for winning back-to-back MVPs, but it simply feels unfair that Embiid missed out on winning the award this season.
If Embiid performs at the same level next season, maybe he will finally get his hands on this honor. There is no way for us to confirm that and fans can only support their favorite superstar.
