When Joel Embiid finished second in the MVP race, he wasn’t worried. He continued to trust the process.
Now that process has come to fruition.
After finishing as runner up in back-to-back seasons, the Philadelphia 76ers center was named 2022-23 KIA NBA MVP award winner during a TNT presentation on Tuesday night before tipoff of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Knicks and Miami Heat.
TRUST THE PROCESS:76ers vs. Celtics: James Harden scores 45 points in Game 1 win without Joel Embiid
Embiid was a finalist for the league’s top individual award along with Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
He received 73 first-place votes while Jokic and Antetokounmpo received 15 and 12 ,respectively.
Embiid, who has finished runner up to Jokic the last two seasons, captured his second-straight scoring title by averaging a career-high 33.1 points in 66 games. Last season, Embiid averaged 30.6 points in 68 games.
Embiid had one of his best seasons in 2022-23 with career highs in points per game and field goal percentage (54.8%), and he also averaged 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steals. He shot 85.7% on 11.7 free throw attempts per game.
He was a force on offense and defense, leading the Sixers to the No. 3 offense and No. 8 defense − one of three teams in the top 10 in both categories.
Embiid essentially locked up the award with a dominating 52-point, 13-rebound performance to beat the Celtics during the final week of the regular season.
The Sixers finished 54-28 for the third seed in the East and the third-best record in the league.
Embiid’s MVP marks the fifth consecutive season an international player has won the award, following Antetokounmpo in 2019 and 2020 and Jokic in 2021 and 2022. A native of Cameroon, Embiid is just the second African-born player to win MVP, joining Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, the 1984 MVP.
Embiid becomes the fifth Sixers to win the award, joining hall-of-famers Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Allen Iverson.
The three leading vote-getters for the league’s individual awards were announced in April and the marquee category featured familiar names.
Jokic repeated as MVP last year, with Embiid the runner-up and Antetokounmpo third. The Nuggets center could’ve became the first player to win three-straight MVP awards since Hall of Famer Larry Bird from 1984-86. Antetokounmpo has also won consecutive MVP awards, in 2019 and 2020. Embiid had never won.
