The 2022-23 season might witness the closest MVP race ever, and opinions on who should win the award are still split.
Damian Lillard was asked to make his pick on The Dan Patrick Show and went for Joel Embiid over Nikola Jokic.
“I picked Joel Embiid because I feel like he’s been dominant all season long,” Lillard said. “His team is winning. I feel like he could have won it one of the last two years but Jokic won it both times. And I just think because he’s been, to me, the most dominant player, he’s been carrying his team. I think you can’t continue to give it to a guy who’s won it twice in a row, especially when you have a guy like this that’s performing at the same level for maybe even higher and he also didn’t get it one of the last two times when he was at that level. That’s not how it should work.”
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Lillard feels that Embiid should have won it once in the last two years and thinks that the two of them have played at a comparable level, which is why he would give him the edge this time around. There isn’t much to separate these two, as evidenced by ESPN’s latest MVP straw poll as well, which saw Embiid beat out Jokic for the award by just two points.
Tracy McGrady Picks Nikola Jokic As His MVP Over Joel Embiid
Tracy McGrady believes the MVP race has come down to Jokic and Embiid, but he has the Serbian as his pick for the award. McGrady’s case for Jokic is that he doesn’t have an All-Star teammate but has taken the Denver Nuggets to the top of the standings in the Western Conference. He also pointed to Jokic’s triple-doubles and the fact that he gets everyone involved with his playmaking, as his reasons for picking Jokic. McGrady added that he believes that everything the Serbian brings to the table makes up for his deficiencies as a defender when compared to Embiid.
We also have Jokic leading the MVP race at the moment, although it is very close. It really would be a shame if Embiid is the runner-up for the third straight year and while he stated he doesn’t care about the MVP race, it definitely would sting him to lose out to Jokic again.
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