Matt Slocum/Associated Press
Philadelphia 76ers level guard Ben Simmons has dinky doubt over who the MVP is this year. All he has to attain is stare downcourt at Joel Embiid for an up-shut and non-public stare at who Simmons considers the appropriate participant in the NBA.
After one other signature performance against the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday evening, Simmons told journalists Embiid is “clearly” the MVP.
The forward posted 36 aspects, 14 rebounds and one assist in a 106-103 dwelling be pleased over the Clippers as Philly continues to withhold onto the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Convention.
Embiid is now averaging 29.8 aspects, 11.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game while taking pictures 51.6 percent from the self-discipline.
Sadly for his MVP odds, his high competitor for the award—Denver Nuggets heart Nikola Jokic—had one other monster evening Friday too. Jokic posted 29 aspects, 16 rebounds and seven assists in a 128-99 victory over the Houston Rockets. That brought his averages as a lot as 26.0 aspects, 10.9 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game.
Also working against Embiid this season is the truth that he is overlooked 18 games attributable to atomize.
While it be nothing Embiid might possibly possibly also adjust, the truth that he is overlooked a tidy chunk of time in an already truncated season will no doubt count against him.
Simmons is attempting to pump up his teammate’s resume regardless.
With Embiid taking price, the Sixers are closing in on a first-location enact in the East and residential-court docket succor at some level of the postseason. That does no longer happen without the forward from Kansas. Whether or no longer or no longer that’s ample to call him MVP remains to be viewed.
