In the wake of reportedly losing the NBA MVP to Denver Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic for a second consecutive season, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid said he’s “not mad” despite previously campaigning for the award and gave credit to the many deserving candidates.
“Obviously congrats to Nikola, he deserved it, he had an amazing season,” said Embiid following Philadelphia’s 120-85 loss the Miami Heat in Game 5 of their second-round series on Tuesday. “There’s no right or wrong, there was a lot of candidates, it could have gone either way. Giannis (Antetokounmpo), (Devin) Booker being on the best team in the league by far.
Embiid was the first centre to lead the league in scoring since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000, averaging 30.6 points per game. The output was good enough to make him an MVP finalist along with Jokic and Antetokounmpo in what’s considered one of the closest MVP racesin recent history. Jokic ultimately reportedly won due to his compelling case of leading the Denver Nuggets to the post-season without co-stars Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., and his historically efficient season — in which he led the league in most advanced metrics.
Whether Embiid finished second or third, or how the full voting breaks down, is not yet known. Last season, he finished second in voting with 589 points, but Jokic was the runaway winner with 971.
Despite being very accepting of the results, Embiid took issue with how the media, which votes on the award, can sway the result — while also noting he wasn’t sure what else he could do to win it, and that it was time for him to focus on winning a championship.
“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 said in his press conference.
“That’s really the only thing I’ll say about those awards. I’m not mad, the last two years in a row I’ve put myself in that position, it didn’t happen. It’s almost like at this point, it’s whatever, whatever happens happens.
“I don’t know what else I have to do to win it. To me it’s just whatever, it’s all about — not that I wasn’t focusing on the bigger picture, but it’s really time to really put all my energy into the bigger picture, which is to win the whole thing.”