Joel Embiid’s individual journey culminated with him being named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the 2022-23 season on Tuesday night.
Embiid had a long and arduous journey to play in his first NBA game, let alone win his first NBA MVP Award.
The lanky kid from Cameroon that was an unpolished talent at Kansas and missed the first two seasons of his career with injuries is finally on top with the MVP award.
Kyle Neubeck of the Audacy Original Podcast “Clap Your Hands” explained why Embiid “is the most Philadelphia MVP” that the city could possibly have given his journey and attitude on and off the court.
“Think of all the things that could’ve derailed Joel between when he was 15, 16, and now. One, he could’ve never picked up a basketball in the first place. Two, that awkward lanky 7-foot-tall kid could’ve just not been very good,” Neubeck said. “He could’ve been frustrated by the fact that these guys that have been better than him, that have played longer than him for so long would just stay better than him.
“That was one of the reasons that he said early in his career that Defensive Player of the Year was his biggest goal individually because he thought that was obtainable compared to something like an MVP and first-team All-NBA and things like that.”
Embiid missed two seasons due to injury after being drafted with the third overall pick in 2014. He made the All-NBA Rookie First Team in 2017, which was the first of many steps forward for the dynamic center.
“To see him take all of these steps. Playoffs in his first full season that he plays with a real team. Runner-up of MVP multiple times in a row and to come that close, and now to finally lead the league in scoring – 33 points a game –, all these signature moments,” Neubeck said. “Beats all the other best players in the league during this awesome season.”
The big man is now a six-time All-Star, four-time All-NBA Second Team, and three-time NBA All-Defensive Second Team. You have to imagine that he’ll only continue to pile up the accolades as his career moves along.
“I can’t imagine how cool that felt for him and certainly, I think one of the other awesome things about Joel winning it for the Sixers, specifically, he is very Philadelphia in many ways,” Neubeck said. “Joel loves to say ‘I don’t care. This doesn’t matter.’ You go back to the ‘No one likes us, we don’t care,’ which is the most untrue thing that has ever been said in Philadelphia, but Joel embodies that.
“He says he doesn’t care but we know that he does. It shows in so many ways that he does. In a lot of ways, he’s the most Philadelphia MVP that we could possibly have in this city.”
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