The Philadelphia 76ers have made the kind of run that the Los Angeles Clippers aspire to make. From having a 12-10 record to start the season, the Sixers have taken off and won 21 out of their last 28 games. Joel Embiid has led the charge and helped the Sixers rise up to the 3rd seed in the East.
Advertisement
After getting bothered with initial illness and injuries, Joel has returned to form and is playing at an MVP level once again. In fact, his recent success has skyrocketed him on the MVP ladder, putting him up to the 2nd spot, just behind Nikola Jokic.
Recently, the Sixers and the Nuggets matched up for their first meeting of the season. The Sixers came out with a 126-119 win over the best team in the West. Joel Embiid led the way with 47 points and 18 rebounds. On the other hand, Nikola Jokic had 24 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists.
Skip Bayless calls Joel Embiid MVP, backs Sixers as BEST TEAM in the NBA
The Fox Sports 1 analyst has once again confused us all with his picks. Unlike NFL, Skip Bayless has failed to stay loyal to a team in the NBA. From supporting the Nets, to the Clippers, to the Sixers, Skip has changed teams thrice in three seasons.
Sure, he didn’t flip-flop in his opinion about the MVP candidate in the last month, which is a big thing for Skip. The man changes his opinions about LeBron James at every instance, so you can imagine, taking him for his word isn’t easy.
However, the analyst has been adamant about the 2x MVP runner-up Joel Embiid finally winning the honors this season. He went a bit overboard with his excitement as he claimed JoJo made a Joke out of the Joker.
On Saturday I watched Joel Embiid destroy Joker in Philadelphia. My MVP went for 47-18-5 against the Joker and made him look like a JOKE! https://t.co/VPHWHWRRfO
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) February 2, 2023
Can Joel win MVP this season?
We’ve now reached that point of the season where we’ve already been the last two years. Jokic leading the MVP race, and Joel following closely. So far, Jokic has denied Embiid not only 2 MVP honors, but also 2x All-NBA First-Team selections.
Using all of those as extra motivation, Joel might try to make a push. While MVP is a goal, for Embiid, the priority would be to capitalize the team’s momentum and actually aim at a championship contention.