The NBA MVP debate was more lively this season than it’s been in recent years. Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić was vying to be the first man since Larry Bird from 1984-1986 and only the third player overall to win the NBA MVP in three straight seasons.
But it didn’t happen. The award went to Philadelphia 76ers center, Joel Embiid.
The NBA MVP is a regular-season award, with the voting being completed before the playoffs even begin. But Embiid and the 76ers flamed out in the second round, blowing a chance to defeat the Boston Celtics at home in Game 6, then getting routed in Boston during Game 7. That now looks especially bad, as the same Celtics are on the verge of being swept, trailing the Miami Heat 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals heading into Tuesday’s Game 4 in Miami.
Jokić and the Nuggets, meanwhile, are going to the NBA Finals for the first time. They completed a four-game sweep of the LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night. Jokić’s performance in the series earned him the Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson Trophy for the Western Conference Finals MVP, as well as high praise and a literal tip of the cap from LeBron after Game 4.
LeBron James on the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokić. 🏀 pic.twitter.com/rygrAbzib6
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 23, 2023
More from LeBron James on Nikola Jokić.
“Everybody gets cracked up into his stats, but I don’t think a lot of people talk about (the mental) part of his game. Maybe it’s not talked about because a lot of people don’t understand it. But I do. He’s special.” pic.twitter.com/AzB8DtINsK
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 23, 2023
As the saying goes, hindsight is always 20/20. And seeing what happened in the playoffs, a lot of basketball fans were revisiting the 2023 NBA MVP debate.
I hate to say it but Jokic is better than Embiid.
— ً (@HardenFinalsMVP) May 23, 2023
Don’t compare Joel Embiid to jokic ever again with all due respect
— Mark Jackson’s Burner (@casualtakeking) May 23, 2023
The “Embiid better than Jokic” takes really get more embarrassing by the day.
— Vontel (@DVontelJ) May 23, 2023
DEAR NIKOLA JOKIC,
I WILL NEVER SAY UR JUST A REGULAR SEASON PLAYER EVER AGAIN
I WILL NEVER SAY JOEL EMBIID IS BETTER THAN YOU AGAIN
I WILL NEVER CALL YOU LARD BOY
YOU DESERVE TO BE A 3X MVP
HE JOINS STEPH CURRY AS THE ONLY WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS MVP IN NBA HISTORY 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Cc0m8qdWJI
— De🅿️ressed Warriors Fan 💔 (@GoIdenState) May 23, 2023
Nikola Jokić won Conference Finals MVP before Joel Embiid MADE the Conference Finals💀
Biggest robbery ever. pic.twitter.com/we5QA6VmV4
— Nikola Jokić Fan Club (2119-0) (@njokicfanclub) May 23, 2023
Imagine letting that goofy guy Kendrick Perkins shame MVP voters into going Embiid over Jokic with that racial nonsense.
Admit it – you got hoodwinked
Should have been Jokic
— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) May 23, 2023
Nikola Jokic tonight:
30 PTS
14 REB
13 ASTJust going to say it directly. If you truly thought Embiid was the MVP this season, you became a prisoner of the moment and narrative. What Jokic does on a nightly basis is not only amazing but truly HISTORIC.pic.twitter.com/ZZSVh23NWh
— Albert Nguyen (@AnalyticsCapper) May 23, 2023
[Photo from Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports]
