Joel Embiid's MVP Odds Have Tanked, but is the Award Important?

At PA sportsbooks and on NJ sports betting apps, Joel Embiid has gone from the NBA’s MVP favorite to fifth, in the span of a week.

Of course, all of this stems from the knee issue that kept Embiid out of the road games in Denver and Portland, and the injury he suffered Tuesday night when Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga fell on his knee.

The Sixers’ loss to the Warriors was their 46th regular-season game. Embiid played in 34 of those contests. He’s allowed to miss 17 games at most, and still be eligible to win MVP as part of the NBA’s new rules to keep stars on the floor.

I’m not a math major, just someone with a communication studies degree, but the numbers are simple regarding Embiid’s MVP candidacy. He is allowed to miss five more games in the regular season, and sitting out a sixth would eliminate him from MVP contention, but to be fair, the oddsmakers have kind of already done that.

Embiid enters Wednesday behind Nikola Jokic (-120), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (+300), Luka Doncic (+550) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (+750) on the MVP odds board.

The Philadelphia fan base is waiting on bated breath for the results of Embiid’s latest MRI, which will take place Wednesday, and while we wait, the “Is the MVP or a deep postseason run more important?” debate has raged on your timelines.

Personally, I think it’s time to forget about an individual award (mostly because Embiid won it last year), and focus on being healthy for the postseason. The Sixers are actually good, have a coach that knows what he’s doing and has a title to his name, and have a roster that is probably one depth piece away from being complete.

With that said, Jokic is the obvious MVP candidate because he does everything for the Denver Nuggets, and if you take him away from that team, it becomes significantly worse.

However, I would make the case for SGA, since he’s third in scoring and helped the Oklahoma City Thunder move up to third place in the Western Conference. Plus, it would be cool to see someone new win the MVP instead of extending the Jokic-Giannis-Embiid MVP cycle to six years.

Jalen Brunson is the long-shot name I would bring up, because the New York Knicks are actually for real this season, and the former Villanova star has been incredible during the rise to the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.