Philadelphia 76ers: Joel Embiid should be the NBA’s Most Valuable Player

The Philadelphia 76ers big man, Joel Embiid, is playing the best basketball of his career this season. He has single-handedly carried the team to within striking distance of the one seed in the Eastern Conference. Embiid has solidified his place in the conversation for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award and deserves his respect.

Anyone who has watched basketball in the month of January knows that Joel Embiid is playing the best basketball of any player in the NBA. And yes those others include LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Chris Paul, and Stephen Curry just to name a few.

Sixers’ Embiid should be MVP.

Lil Wayne taught us that men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t lie so let us go straight to the numbers here. In 17 of Joel’s last 20 games, he has scored more than 30 points; that’s 85 percent of games played. On top of that, he averaged 34 points per game and 10.8 rebounds per game during the month of January.

The highlight of January, which I believe sealed Embiid’s position as the MVP front-runner was the January 19th, 2022 game against the Orlando Magic. He tied his career-high in points with 50 and did it in only 27 minutes of playing time! He averaged almost two points per minute when he was on the floor which is unheard of. Just let that sink in.

From a statistical perspective had he played the whole game he was on pace to approach Wilt Chamberlain‘s 100-point game. Joel also shot 17-23 (74 percent) from the field and made 15 of his 17 free throw attempts.

Arguably the most important piece of Embiid’s MVP case though is the fact that the Philadelphia 76ers have moved from the sixth seed to the third seed in the Eastern Conference from December 31st, 2021 to now. They now sit just 0.5 games out of first place. That is unequivocally a result of Embiid’s other-worldly play at the moment. The two questions now are:

1. Can Embiid sustain this level of play for the rest of the regular season and into the postseason?
2. Can the Philadelphia 76ers get Embiid some help at the trade deadline to fortify this team as a realistic NBA Championship contender?

We will know the answers to these questions soon enough, but in the meantime, we should all enjoy watching the greatness that is in front of us night in and night out when the Philadelphia 76ers take the floor. Right now, Joel Embiid is the best basketball player on planet Earth.