NBA MVP Race: How Embiid Stopped the Joker
Recapping the Tightest MVP Race in Recent History

A Three-Way Race to the Finish
The 2022/23 NBA season brought one of the tightest MVP races in history as Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo made strong cases to be crowned with the league’s top individual award.
Let’s take a look back on the NBA MVP Race and reflect on each player’s case.
Joel Embiid (
Philadelphia 76ers)
Embiid eventually took home his first-ever MVP trophy in a rather convincing fashion, but was he simply the beneficiary of media narratives?
In fairness, assuming Embiid won the award purely on public opinion is taking away from the remarkable season he had. The Cameroon-born native led the league in scoring for the second straight season and was a vital piece of a top-tier defense.
He averaged 33.1 points per game, which was both a career-high and a league-high on the season while also averaging 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists (this too was a career-high).
Embiid’s dominance over the final two months of the season is what really helped him ascend to the top of the list, with Jokic’s performances taking a backstep after Denver had the #1 seed wrapped up in the West. The public discourse around Embiid’s importance to his team also saw him take precedence over Antetokounmpo, whose team had a strong winning record in his absence in the regular season.
The fact that Embiid finished second last season and clearly bettered himself this year in terms of scoring and defensive impact meant that it was an easy narrative to write down the stretch as his Philadelphia team made a strong push for a division title on the back of his form.
He was also a big reason why Philadelphia was so kind to bettors this season as they finished with the best against-the-spread record on NBA betting lines.
Nikola Jokic (
Denver Nuggets)
Nikola Jokic was the reigning two-time MVP coming into the season and for the vast majority, he was the betting favorite to three-peat.
While a lot of the public debates became ugly down the stretch there was never any denying just how impactful Jokic was on the court once again. With a full array of talent around him, he continued to elevate his all-around game and put up some of the most impressive advanced stats we’ve seen in recent history.
Jokic led the league in Player Efficiency Rating (PER), True Shooting percentage, player Win Shares, Box Plus/Minus (BPM), and Value Over Replacement Player (VORP). All of these have long been considered important metrics in determining a player’s true value and it was the third straight season that Jokic led the league in every category mentioned.
In hindsight, his playoff performances have served as the perfect reminder of just why he was probably deserving of being the first player since Larry Bird (1983-1986). Jokic has publicly stated many times that the award means nothing to him, but right now there’s no player more fitting of the title Most Valuable Player.
Giannis Antetokounmpo (
Milwaukee Bucks)
The two-time MVP winner was once again at his freakish best this season as he boasted some of the best two-way per 36-minute stats in the league. The Greek Freak also led his team to the top of the NBA standings as they boasted the best overall record in the league.
Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer has always prioritized rest and minutes limits over individual honors and it might be the only reason we aren’t getting some absurd statistical lines from Antetokounmpo on a more regular basis.
His 32.1 minutes per game were easily the lowest of all the MVP contenders and so it isn’t surprising to see some of his per 36-minute numbers look incredible.
Giannis averaged 34.8 points, 13.2 rebounds and 6.4 assists per 36 minutes this season. His Defensive Rating had him in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year and he did all of that while owning the highest Usage rate in the NBA this season when on the floor (38.8%).
Unfortunately for him, defense is a distant second in the minds of NBA viewers and voters, which takes away a large portion of what he does on a nightly basis. Being the best player on the best team always has you in contention, but the narrative for Giannis simply wasn’t as strong as those above him this season.
To recap the NBA MVP Race it’s fair to say that the talent in the league is at an all-time high and similar races can be expected in the near future. Hopefully, we see more of the same from these three superstars next season.
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