For the second year in a row, Joel Embiid finished runner-up to Nikola Jokic for the MVP award and it seems fair to say he wasn’t too happy about it.
Embiid did first make sure to give his props to Jokic, congratulating the Joker on an amazing season while also praising other candidates like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Devin Booker. He did, however, take a bit of a shot at the media.
“Obviously, congrats to Nikola, he deserved it, he had an amazing season. There’s no right or wrong, there was a lot of candidates. It could have gone either way. Giannis, Devin Booker being on the best team in the league by far, so I guess every year it’s all about whatever you guys decide, whatever fits the narrative as far as who’s going to win.”
He then, later on, added that he had put himself in a position for the award the last two years and isn’t quite sure what more he needed to do. He went on to say that it is time to now put all his energy into the bigger picture, which is winning the championship.
“I’m not mad, the last two years in a row I’ve put myself in that position, it didn’t happen.” “Last year I campaigned about it, this year I answered questions when I was asked, and the next, you know, few years before I retire it’s almost like, I don’t know what else I have to do to win it.” “It’s really time to put all my energy into the bigger picture, which is to win the whole thing.”
One can sympathize with Embiid here. He became the first center in over two decades to lead the league in scoring by averaging 30.6 points per game and played a big role in helping the Sixers secure a top 4 seed despite all the drama surrounding the Ben Simmons situation. Unfortunately, only one person can win it and Jokic was perhaps a tick better this season.
While Sixers fans would unquestionably be unhappy that he didn’t win MVP, they would be happy to hear that Embiid’s main goal is to win the biggest prize in the sport and that’s where his complete focus will be, from now on.
https://twitter.com/ClutchPointsApp/status/1524252813491982337
