Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has been terrific all season, leading the NBA with 33.1 points per game and 10.2 rebounds. He was rewarded accordingly with the highest honor the league offers.
Embiid has been the runner-up to Denver Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic for the regular season MVP each of the last two seasons. He finally broke through as the winner of the award this season.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported that Embiid was officially voted the 2022-23 regular season MVP.
Embiid took home the trophy with 915 total points and 73 first-place votes. The only players to get first-place votes were Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
With this award, Embiid becomes the first 76ers player since Allen Iverson to receive the award since the 2000-2001 season.
The star center was paying attention to the news, watching with his teammates, who gave him a big applause once his name was announced. The honor meant a lot to him as he got highly emotional once the moment set in.
Many around the NBA world took to social media to offer their opinion on this massive news.
Joel Embiid is the 2022-2023 MVP. The first Michael Jordan Trophy winner
No one deserves it more. All Joel Embiid has been through. It’s an incredible story and it’s only just beginning. I knew he was something special after his first game pic.twitter.com/Eh9h6OaxNx
— Aidan Doc
(@AidanDoc_) May 2, 2023
While this award means a ton to Joel Embiid, a potential NBA title means more to him. The 76ers are still in contention for that, but they will need Embiid to return to the court to be genuine contenders to win it all.
Embiid missed Game 1 in their second-round series against the Boston Celtics. Luckily for the 76ers, they were miraculously able to come away with a win in the first game without him.
He is listed as questionable for Game 2, but maybe this MVP announcement gives him more of an urge to return to the court as soon as possible.