Jude Magnotti ’26
EE Sports Columnist
With only around two weeks left in the NBA season, the MVP race is heating up. Throughout the year we have seen many incredible seasons from even more players.
The significant jump in offensive production has resulted in six different players averaging 30 points or more and has massively inflated statlines. 30 points has become the new 20 points, 40 points has become the new 30 points, and 60 points has become the new 50 points.
As a result of these inflated stats, many players have put together MVP seasons yet are not in conversation for the award.
Damian Lillard is averaging more points, assists, and rebounds then Steph Curry did in his unanimous MVP season and Lillard barely made the all-star game. Jayson Tatum is averaging 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists a game on one of the best teams in the league yet is not in the conversation.
Instead, the race has narrowed down to just three players: Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Nikola Jokic has mostly been the frontrunner, averaging a triple double on the best team in the west. However, due to a few great games by Embiid and a missed game winner by Jokic, Embiid has jumped out in front.
However, there is one player I believe people are counting out. Many people are saying Giannis has had a down year, but he is actually having the best season of his career so far averaging 32 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists on 60% true shooting. In addition to this, the Bucks are by far the best team in basketball and title favorites.
So how can Giannis be having an even better season than years past and people are still sleeping on him? Well the main factor in this is voter fatigue. People say Jokic has been affected by this, but the media have gotten so tired of Giannis dominating the league they have written him off.
Jokic and Embiid are having great seasons, but they both have flaws Giannis does not. First off, Jokic is incredible offensively but he can not play defense. He is not athletic enough to keep up with smaller guards and not physically imposing enough to back down centers in the post. He is not the only one who is bad defensively on the Nuggets, though. Jamal Murray, MPJ, and Aaron Gordan all have defensive issues as well and Jokic’s offense can not carry them without a sturdy defense.
Meanwhile, Embiid has his own little secret that people do not seem to know. Analysts see the numbers, they see the big games, they see the clutch shots, but they do not actually watch the full game. If you have watched some of Embiid’s games then you would know that his offensive numbers are highly inflated by one factor: Flopping.
Embiid has an impressive offensive skill set, but he frequently gets stuck in bad situations and traps then falls on the floor and gets a foul called. A statistic that shows the absurdity of Embiid’s flopping is when he is within 5 feet of the basket he is fouled 71% of the time and 82% of the time including And-1’s. The league average is 35% (which is still absurdly high).
Embiid averages 13.5 free throws attempted a game and shoots 86%. If we bring him down to the league average of 7 with his percentage he goes from making 11 free throws a game to just six. This drastically takes down his scoring average from 33 points a game to just 28.
Now some could argue that this is actually an argument for Embiid as it showcases his skill. However, most of his fouls aren’t drawn using technique like James Harden, but literally just looking so foolish falling on the ground that the refs call it despite there being no contact.
There is no denying that Embiid is a top player in the league, but compared to what Jokic and Giannis are doing I can not put Joel ahead of them.
Speaking of Giannis, he corrects the flaws that both Embiid and Jokic have. For one, Giannis is one of the best defenders in the league. He and his teammate Brook Lopez are both perennial DPOY candidates and there is no conversation around his elite defensive abilities.
He also does not fall on the floor as for a 6’11, 240 beast he has exceptional balance and does not need to flop to score points (thank god, because if he drew as many fouls as Embiid he would add an extra hour to every game). Everyone knows Giannis is the best player in the league, but people are sick of his dominance and Giannis has to have the best season of his career just to stay in the MVP conversation.
There are still two more weeks of basketball left to play, but if nothing changes from now to the end of the season, Giannis Antetokounmpo is easily my MVP.