76ers: Joel Embiid is rapidly approaching a very dangerous territory

All things considered, Philadelphia 76ers superstar big man Joel Embiid has been the most dominant player in the entire NBA this season. The reigning Most Valuable Player has somehow improved even more this year, leading the team to an impressive start to the current campaign where they currently flaunt a 23-13 record.

In spite of that, while many are high on Embiid’s chances at repeating as MVP this season, his biggest detractors have pointed to one thing that could ultimately make him fall short of the coveted hardware: availability. He’s already missed a grand sum of nine games, with the 76ers going 2-7 in those outings (he’s again questionable to play on Friday after missing the previous one).

76ers superstar Joel Embiid could lose out on another MVP this season

Embiid’s intermittent absences have piled up enough for 76ers fans to ponder about how much better the team’s record could have been had he not missed those games. Clearly, his unavailability has been the single biggest reason behind their win-loss card not matchinp up with how impressive they’ve looked so far. However, on an individual basis, his missed games could ultimately prove lethal.

New CBA rules have established that players must play a minimum of 65 games to qualify for the Most Valuable Player award. Embiid has already missed nine, and at this rate, he’s on track to miss roughly 25 games this season — hypothetically bringing his total to just 57 games played. That would eliminate him from MVP consideration.

Meanwhile, Embiid’s biggest competition for the plum — Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dallas’ Luka Doncic, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Boston’s Jayson Tatum have missed 10 games combined. Even if Embiid manages to usurp the 65-game requirement, if he keeps pushing the limit on this regard, the jury may not be too high on him as the others even if the numbers suggest that he’s MVP.

Hopefully, the Philadelphia 76ers are treated to a relatively cleaner bill of health, especially coming from Joel Embiid. That way, he can help the team win even more games and the team can help him gete that rare accomplishment of being the back-to-back MVP.