May 14, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) leaves the court after losing to the Boston Celtics in game seven of the 2023 NBA playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
NBA: Playoffs-Philadelphia 76ers at Boston Celtics
Disclaimer: the NBA Most Valuable Player Award is a regular season trophy, and by every conceivable metric, Joel Embiid had an MVP-caliber season in 2022-2023.
But man, does his MVP and All-NBA First Team nod seem so wild today.
Joel Embiid is the only MVP to not make the Conference Finals in his career. Embiid’s scoring average plummeted from 33.1 PPG in the regular season to 23.7 PPG in the playoffs, which is the biggest drop-off (-9.4) by an MVP in the league’s history. And the same team–Boston–has had Embiid’s number his entire career (let’s not forget old man Al Horford’s defensive impact on Embiid either). “The Process” has become “The Problem.”
Obviously, taking just one look at Nikola Jokic, his unbelievable greatness continues to be underappreciated. He averaged a 30-point triple-double in the second round and pretty much mopped the floor with the Phoenix Suns. His brilliance does not take a nosedive when the lights get brighter. He just keeps putting up numbers.
The fact of the matter is, the MVP trophy is going through a rough patch. The last reigning MVP to win the championship was Steph Curry in 2015. If you go back through NBA history, every once in a while you see these gaps where the reigning MVP just can’t get over the hump. For example, the MVP in 2003 was Tim Duncan, who won the title that year. The next MVP to win the title the year they won the award was LeBron James, in 2012. Jokic is a part of this drought as well. But what separates Embiid is a systemic failure to make a deep run.
Bottom line: the MVP is a great honor, but its value waxes and wanes. It’s given to the guy who had the best regular season, which fails to resonate in incidents like these where the player is not a playoff performer.
