This years MVP race has been one of the closest races in NBA History. Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic are three of the best basketball players in the league and some of the best international basketball players of all time. All three players have been DOMINANT all season and have had tremendous impact on their teams success. Only one player can be crowned leagues MVP so who should it be?
Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets)
STATS: 24.5 points 11.8 Rebounds 9.8 Assist
Team Record: 52-29
Nikola Jokic is maybe having his best season as a pro I know that is a crazy statement because he is a back to back MVP. Jokic is basically averaging a triple double with unreal efficiency he's shooting 63 percent from the field ,82 percent from the line and 38 percent from three. At the Center position he is arguably the best passer in the league. We have never seen that before. Another reason why he has a case to be MVP is because of how great he makes his team and teammates. The Nuggets don't have a single All Star on the roster other than him and they are still the first seed in the West. That's an MVP despite what is around you can you make your teammates better? Nikola Jokic consistently does that at the highest level. If Jokic wins MVP he would be the first player to win 3 straight MVP's since Larry Bird in 83-86. The Legend averaged 29 12 and 7 during his final MVP season which was very impressive but Jokic out rebounded and had more assist than Bird with less help. If Jokic wanted to score more he could but instead he chooses to focused on playing all around basketball this season and it has been working.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)
STATS: 31 Points 12 rebounds and 6 assist
Team Record: 58-24
The BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD! Giannis was DOMINANT this season once again. 31 and 12 while leading the Bucks to the best record in the NBA. I think we take Giannis for granted because when he plays great it's almost unimpressive due to how great he has been. What more do we want from Giannis? He scores he rebounds and he plays defense. That is the definition of an MVP. He is a 7 foot power forward with guard like traits and Shaq like dominance. Despite playing in the toughest conference in the league Giannis has the Bucks sitting at first in the conference and best record in the league. A lot of people say the Bucks are a playoff team even without Giannis I disagree. Without Giannis the Bucks maybe a play in team but not a playoff team especially in this Eastern Conference he is the best player in basketball for a reason. He's averaging more points this year than either of his 2 MVP seasons even with all the success Giannis is still improving.
Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers)
Stats: 33 points 10 rebounds and 4 assist
Team Record: 54-28
Joel Embiid has been SENSATIONAL this season. Joel probably feels like he should have been MVP last season when he averaged 31 points and 11 rebounds and lead the league in scoring. He let that anger of not winning fuel him and came back this year better. He went from averaging 31 points to averaging 33 points and shooting 5 percent better from the field. His impact on the Sixers is obvious there is no way this team would be a playoff team without him. James Harden is not the same guy from Houston or even his first year in Brooklyn and Tyrese Maxey can't carry a team to the playoffs at this stage in his career. This team will ultimately go as far as Embiid carries them .
Who Should Win MVP?
All three candidates are deserving as I stated early this is the closest MVP race in NBA history but if I had to chose I would have to pick Joel Embiid. Embiid has been the most dominant player this season he has 15 40 point games and has scored 50 points three times. Between these three players I feel Joel has the biggest impact on histeam's success. Without Joel the Sixers are a bad team with Joel the Sixers can possibly go to the finals. Both these players have one MVP twice already and Joel who has led the league in scoring twice has never won. Only one thing can stop Joel from winning MVP and that is his team's record. While the other two candidates have their teams at top of the conference Joel and the Sixers are third. I don't use that to take away from Embiid's greatness I just don't think the Sixers are good enough to compete for a title. In a conference with the Bucks and the Celtics the Sixers are clearly the third best team. Joel needed to be dominant for the Sixers to be competitive and he has. He's the most valuable player to his team and should be awarded with his first league MVP.
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