Joel Embiid is one of the leading candidates to win this year’s NBA MVP award. It would be the first time that he wins it. The Cameroonian center is so confident that he deserves the award that he thinks that him not winning it would mean he is held to a different standard than everybody else.
“If it happens, great,” Embiid said of winning his first MVP, per ESPN. “If it doesn’t, I don’t know what I have to do. I’ll feel like they hate me. I feel like the standard for guys in Philly or for me is different than everyone else.”
With four regular season games left to play Embiid is the league’s second top scorer with 30.2 points per game (LeBron James is first with 30.3 points per game). In addition, he is averaging 11.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.
At the same time the 76ers are one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Currently Philadelphia sits in fourth place with 2.5 games back behind the first-placed Heat.
According to sports analyst Skip Bayless, the comments made by Embiid are a wrong. “You cannot bite the hands that have been feeding you. You can’t try to shame the media into voting for you,” he said, on UNDISPUTED.
Bayless pointed at the fact that until the James Harden trade, Embiid carried the Sixers single handedly. The arrival of Harden, one of the best scorers in the game, has negatively impacted his chances of winning his first MVP.
