Philadelphia 76ers center and scoring champion Joel Embiid won his first NBA MVP trophy Tuesday night, surpassing two-time winner Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets.
The 29-year-old from Cameroon averaged 33.1 points to win his second straight title, averaged 10.2 rebounds and set a career-high 4.2 assists per game. Embiid played 66 games, the second-highest total of his career, but was again plagued by injuries in the playoffs. Embiid was sidelined with a sprained right knee that cost him a game of the playoff sweep against Brooklyn and the opening game of the Eastern Conference semifinals against Boston, won by Philadelphia on Monday night.
Jokic was second and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks was third. Embiid received 73 first place votes. Jokic received 15 first place votes and Antetokounmpo 12.
“It took a long time,” Embiid said. “A lot of hard work. I’ve been through a lot. I’m not just talking about basketball. I’m talking about my life. My story. Where I come from. How I got here and what it cost to be here.”
The 76ers watched in Boston and on TV chanting “MVP! MVP! ‘ as Embiid buried his head in his hands as the award was announced. Embiid was in tears as teammates James Harden, Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey ambushed him in celebration.
Embiid then vowed “I’ll be back” for the playoff series against the Celtics.
Embiid has been determined to win the MVP trophy for years. The third overall pick of the 2014 draft, Embiid missed his first two full seasons through injury before establishing himself as one of the finest tall men of his generation. He’s been at his best this season as he has three 50-point games in total, including a career-high 59 against Utah in November. He had 13 games totaling 40 points.
When Embiid totaled 52 points and 13 rebounds in a win against the Celtics in April, coach Doc Rivers bravely declared, “The MVP race is over.”
Embiid certainly didn’t get in a fight that night with his coach or his Sixers teammates tripping on his behalf. “They’re probably right,” Embiid said. “But we have bigger goals in mind.”
Embiid is the first 76er to win the league MVP since Allen Iverson in 2001. Julius Erving in 1981, Moses Malone in 1983, and Wilt Chamberlain from 1966 to 1968 are other 76ers who have won NBA MVP honors.
Embiid’s injury could be the deciding factor in the 76ers’ hunt for the NBA championship. The Sixers are trying to win their first NBA title since 1983 and advance to the second round for the first time since 2001 — the last time a Sixer won the MVP award.
Allen Iverson was named league MVP in 2001. The other 76ers to earn the league’s top individual honors are Julius Erving, 1981; Moses Malone, 1983; and Wilt Chamberlain, 1966-1968.
Embiid, who graduated from high school in Florida and played a season at college in Kansas, has been the dominant force in the NBA for the past seven seasons. Once the poster child for stress management, Embiid has played 134 regular-season games over the past two seasons, and his 30.6 points last season made him the first international player to ever win an NBA scoring title. He is a six-time All-Star and has been second to Jokic in each of the last two seasons. Antetokounmpo won in 2019 and 2020. Jokic in 2021 and 2022.
Now the award belongs to Embiid, who was only picking up a basketball as a teenager in Cameroon when a friend told him very few bipeds succeed at football.
A few months later, Embiid was lured to a basketball camp in the capital, Yaounde, run by NBA veteran Luc Mbah a Moute, one of only two players from Cameroon to have played in the NBA. Mbah a Moute persuaded Embiid’s parents to let him move 6,000 miles to Florida and helped enroll him in Montverde Academy, one of the top high school programs in the country. He only played 28 games in his only season in Kansas before moving to the NBA.
“I am very happy for Joel to have won the MVP award. He’s the real deal and deserves all the credit he gets,” Rivers said. “He embodies everything that honor stands for. His drive to improve is second to none, and as the saying goes, “A dream doesn’t come by magic, it takes hard work,” he puts his heart into it.
Embiid, who became an American citizen last year, was known early in his career for suckling Shirley Temples but has worked with sports nutritionists to develop healthier eating habits and streamline his training.
Sixers fans can enjoy him for years. Embiid’s four-year, $196 million contract extension doesn’t come into effect until next season, taking him through 2026-27.
The friendly center became the face of the ’76 reconstruction effort, better known as The Process. He adopted the nickname and is introduced as Joel “The Process” Embiid before every home game.
He can now add MVP.
Billboards were erected around Philadelphia by Embiid with the slogan “MVPIID” and Sixers fans serenaded him with “MVP!” chants from the pre-game introduction to his final free-throw attempts.
Embiid becomes the second winner from Africa, joining Nigerian Hakeem Olajuwon, who won for Houston in 1994.
