Reigning MVP Joel Embiid may well be out of the MVP race this season due to the NBA’s new rules and Warriors star Draymond Green isn’t happy about it at all.
Golden State faced off against Philadelphia on Tuesday night, a game which Embiid entered as questionable due to a knee injury.
During the game, Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga appeared to fall on the same knee Embiid had been struggling with and the big man could be seen writhing in pain before he left the game for good.
76ers coach Nick Nurse confirmed that the injury Embiid sustained on the court is “unrelated” to the one that’s been bothering him, but he will undergo an MRI.
Green thinks that Embiid pushed to play so that he could still be in the running for this year’s MVP.
The NBA’s new rule introduced this season states that a player needs to participate in 65 games for at least 20 minutes to be eligible.
“Joel playing tonight felt very much so because of the 65-game limit,” Green said on the latest episode of The Draymond Green Show.
“Everybody’s happy with this 65-game rule until you’ve got a bum on All-NBA team, until you’ve got somebody who’s not totally deserving of MVP of the league because somebody else didn’t qualify because of this game limit.”
Green went on to say what he really thinks about the rule.
“What I think is quite actually bulls**t, myself, is to actually incorporate something at this point a rule like 65 games need to be played in order to win MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, (or) All-NBA, guys didn’t face those rules before,” Green said.
“…You get Joel, who comes out there tonight because he’s three games away from not qualifying to win MVP and he forces it,” Green added. “And freak play with him and JK diving for the ball, but maybe it’s not as bad if the knee isn’t already banged up, right?
“Of course you want to win MVP. You force it, you get out there and you put yourself in harm’s way and then Joel Embiid is hurt now. Is that the goal? Is the goal putting people in harm’s way just so they can qualify for an award? Because I don’t think that was the goal. This man’s actually dealing with an injury.”
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