For most players, earning All-NBA second team honors would be a lifetime achievement. However, for Joel Embiid it feels like a sign of disrespect, especially after this past season he had as the superstar of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Sixers’ superstar has now made All-NBA second team in four of the past five seasons. Yet it feels like, especially this season, that the Sixers’ big man was short-changed. Not only did Embiid get disrespected in these All-NBA honors, but it also proves that the system is outdated.
Sixers’ Embiid was disrespected by not making first team All-NBA.
Embiid, along with Ja Morant, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and DeMar DeRozan made up the second team All-NBA. However, Embiid had a more significant amount of votes than any other player on the second. He even had more votes than Jayson Tatum who was named first team All-NBA.
Besides Tatum, the other members of the first team All-NBA included Giannis Antentokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Luka Doncic, and Devin Booker. While all of those players are well-qualified to make first team, to say that Embiid shouldn’t be in that group is nonsense.
Not only did Embiid have a record-breaking season, but he also was runner-up in a closer than normal MVP race. He led the league in scoring and could very well still be in the playoffs if it wasn’t due to multiple postseason injuries.
The system is broken and I agree with former 76ers sharpshooter J.J. Redick who now works for ESPN, who took the stance that All-NBA should be positionless. In the modern NBA where positions are a relative term, making All-NBA positionless makes sense.
If Embiid is upset, he is justified in being so. The system and voters failed to make the Sixers’ All-NBA first team as he deserves to be and hopefully, they will fix this in the future.