During the MVP of the regular season discussion, Big Shaq picked Joel Embiid over other contestants in the race
Shaquille O’Neal was on the Post Game Show in their latest episode prior to the All-Star announcement. While discussing the possible MVP of the season, Shaq quickly supported Philly’s big man Joel Embiid and put forward his views.
According to Shaq, MVP is an individual player award. And hence, players winning the award should be judged individually rather than the whole team’s performance in the league. Shaq feels that in the past few years and also many NBA pundits support influential players from the best record NBA team, which is not correct.
He said, “The most valuable player is a single award, which means you are the baddest guy in the league. And the baddest guy in the league right now is Joel Embiid. But there are 6 players, so hopefully the media doesn’t penalize him if another guy who is close and his team has a better record.”
As per the format of the KIA MVP Award Panel of sportswriters and media houses across the US and Canada gets to vote for their MVP candidate. The voting goes in ranking from 1st to fifth place. Each position has some weightage and the player with maximum weightage wins the award.
There is no question that all the contenders are playing great this season and carrying their team’s max workload. It can be either defensive or offensive or even both. As per the latest list released by the league, the following are the candidates for this season’s MVP award,
| Player Name (Position) | Previous Ranking | Player stats | Team Record in league (27/1/2022) |
| Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets) | Rank 2 | 25.9 pts, 13.9 reb, 7.4 assists | 6th in the West (26-21) |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) | Rank 1 | 28.6 pts, 11.3 reb, 6.1 assists | 6th in the East (30-20) |
| Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) | Rank 4 | 28 pts, 10.6 reb, 4.2 assists | 5th in the East (29-19) |
| Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets) | Rank 3 | 29.3 pts, 7.4 reb, 5.8 assists | 4th in the East (29-19) |
| Chris Paul (Phoenix Suns) | Rank 8 | 14 pts, 4.3 reb, 10 assists | 1st in the West (38-9) |
Though the rankings change on regular basis depending upon their performances, these players have dominated the list right from the start of the season. Embiid made a late entry into the list but climbed up very fast with his multi-dimensional stats and overall impact o the team performance.
Last season too Embiid was a part of the discussion, but after missing some games due to injury, he lost his opportunity and Nikola Jokic won the 2021 MVP award.
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