Joel Embiid crowned NBA regular season MVP

Perseverance is the nobility of stubbornness. Philadelphia Sixers center Joel Embiid has been named the 2022-23 NBA Regular Season MVP. The ultimate individual reward in the North American Basketball League, for the Cameroonian who remained on two consecutive 2nd places for this prized distinction. He succeeds the winners of the Serbian Nikola Jokic, double defending champion and who deprived him of this title for the last two years. The pivot from Denver also finished in 2nd place after counting the votes, just ahead of Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee), who completed the podium.

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At 29 and probably in the shape of his life, Joël Embiid becomes the second African player in NBA history to win the MVP trophy. Only the Nigerian Hakeem Olajuwon had managed to win this distinction in … 1994. Almost 30 years later, it is therefore the pivot of Philadelphia who wins this trophy which crowns a high-quality regular season. Since the start of the season, he has averaged 33.1 points per game, 10.02 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.7 blocks, 1 steal and a 55% shooting percentage. The 6th best point average in MVP history, just that!

The 2022-23 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player is… Joel Embiid!#NBAAwards | #KiaMVP | @Kia pic.twitter.com/Ztj5HCzfuL

— NBA (@NBA) May 2, 2023

It is quite logical that under his leadership, Philadelphia qualified without trembling for the play-offs at the end of the regular season, with a 3rd place in the Eastern Conference. The Sixers are also still in the running for the title this year and are engaged in the semifinals of the conference finals against Boston, and lead 1-0 in the series. There is no doubt that after this individual reward, Joël Embiid will try to win the title of NBA champion with the franchise that drafted him in 2014 and in which he has since taken on a whole new dimension.