Basketball

Joel Embiid and 36,928 points scoring Jazz legend are the only players in 32 years to average 30-11

Arun Sharma
|PublishedAug 22, 2022

Joel Embiid and 36,928 points scoring Jazz legend are the only players in 32 years to average 30-11

Joel Embiid is a modern-day center personified – He was taking 3s before centers making long-range shots became cool.

Last season, Joel Embiid and LeBron James went toe to toe for the top scorer award – the Philadelphia 76ers star came up on top. He managed to score 30.4 points and averaged 11.7 rebounds in 68 games. He also played the most number of minutes since his debut back in 2014.

The last person to do that was Karl Malone in 89-90. King Karl averaged 31 points and 11 rebounds for 82 games, which means that he was primarily much better than Troell. There is one more guy who came mightily close to matching those numbers, and that is Russell Westbrook during his MVP season.

A guard averaging 11 rebounds a game is mental. Doing it while averaging a 30-10-10 triple-double season, is insanity. He was a walking cheat code, and no guard has come close since. Embiid will want to get his hands on the trophy both Malone and Westbrook have – The MVP.

Also Read: Joel Embiid turned down a date with $1.7 billion woman Rihanna despite his proposal just a few years earlier

Joel Embiid has been on the edge of winning the MVP for the past couple of years – will this season be the one that puts him over the edge?

Joel Embiid needs some silverware soon. He cannot retire like Karl Malone, without any major accolades to his name. Even then, The Mailman has had a couple of MVPs to his name, and even 2 All-Star MVPs as well. He played in an era that was dominated by Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael Jordan.

Embiid may have to look to greener pastures if he wants to win the championship in his prime. He is one of the few stars who deserves to win a title in this era, maybe LeBron James can help him do that. James Harden has proved to be a bust, Ben Simmons even more so.

30 points and 11 rebounds deserved an MVP award, but Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic usurped him for the award for the past 4 years. If he does win it this year, it would be 5 years in a row that a non-American has won it – the longest drought for the supposed greatest country on earth.

Also Read: “Every week is more incredible than the other”– Joel Embiid star trolls $1.3 billion F1 team for spoiling Charles Leclerc’s race

About the author

Arun Sharma

Arun Sharma is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. A double degree holder and a digital marketer by trade, Arun has always been a sports buff. He fell in love with the sport of basketball at a young age and has been a Lakers fan since 2006. What started as a Kobe Bryant obsession slowly turned into a lifelong connection with the purple and gold. Arun has been an ardent subscriber to the Mamba mentality and has shed tears for a celebrity death only once in his life. He believes January 26, 2020, was the turning point in the passage of time because Kobe was the glue holding things together. From just a Lakers bandwagoner to a basketball fanatic, Arun has spent 16 long years growing up along with the league. He thinks Stephen Curry has ruined basketball forever, and the mid-range game is a sight to behold. Sharma also has many opinions about football (not the American kind), F1, MotoGP, tennis, and cricket.