Whether or not he ultimately wins the NBA’s MVP Award or not, Joel Embiid has one honor that he’s taking home for the 2021-22 season: the league’s scoring title.
Embiid, who will enter Sunday’s game against the Detroit Pistons averaging 30.6 points per game, has clinched the NBA’s scoring title, as closest competitor Giannis Antetokounmpo is sitting out Sunday's Bucks finale with a sore right knee and will finish at 29.9 points per game.
As Shams Charania of The Athletic noted, Embiid will become the first center to win a scoring title since Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal did it for the Los Angeles Lakers more than two decades ago, when he averaged 29.7 points per game for the eventual 1999-2000 NBA Champion Lakers:
Per ESPN, 30.6 would be the lowest total to win a scoring title since now-Sixer James Harden averaged 30.4 when he won the scoring title as a Rocket in 2017-18 -- the first of three straight titles for Harden, and a year he won MVP.
After missing what would have been his first two NBA seasons with a foot injury, Embiid has made five All-Star teams, putting the 28-year-old’s career on a Hall of Fame trajectory. His previous career-high in points came when he averaged 28.5 points per game a year ago, en route to finishing runner up to Nikola Jokić in NBA MVP voting.
His Sixers enter Sunday 50-31, tied with the Boston Celtics for the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, and Philly will finish third or fourth depending on the results of Sunday's games.
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