The Sixer Sense
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2022 NBA MVP ballots: Does Sixers’ Joel Embiid deserve to win?

By Christopher Kline

Joel Embiid, Sixers Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Joel Embiid, Sixers Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

2022 NBA MVP ballot — Lucas Johnson

  1. Joel Embiid
  2. Nikola Jokic
  3. Giannis Antetokounmpo
  4. Devin Booker
  5. DeMar DeRozan

It’s easy to forget DeMar DeRozan, the veteran All-Star on the Chicago Bulls. The team has struggled with injuries and does not have a good record against the elite competition. However, the Bulls would be a lottery team without DeRozan. He has put himself in the record books with Wilt Chamberlin and without him, it’s fair to assume the Bulls would be out of the playoff race together.

This season has proven one thing, and that’s that Devin Booker is the clear-cut best player on the Phoenix Suns. Without Chris Paul for a long stretch, Booker kept the Suns in top contention. Booker has had elite counting stats for the majority of his career but now his big numbers are leading to stats and he’s the best player on the best team, so he needs to be on this ballet.

The top portion of my ballot gets extremely close. However, the fact that Giannis Antetokounmpo has had his two main co-stars and the Milwaukee Bucks aren’t the number one seed in the East does work against him. However, the Bucks have a tough schedule towards the end of the year and if he shows out, then he could make a late push for it.

At the end of the day, there are two factors that I’m going to hold against Nikola Jokic in this race. The first is that he’s not an elite two-way player. He’s slightly above average on defense but he’s not elite. The second being is that his team the Denver Nuggets is lower in the standings than the person who’s number one on this list.

Joel Embiid, the Philadelphia 76ers’ star center, has been the favorite for the majority of the year and he hasn’t done anything to lose his position in this race. He’s been the most dominant two-way center in the league and has been clutch. He’s led this Sixers team through one of the more bizarre situations in NBA history regarding Ben Simmons.

This is an extremely close race. The top three could be rearranged in any order and any of those three players are worthy winners of this award.