Kevin Durant mentioned Joel Embiid deserves the MVP. He’s uncertain he’ll win it, although, as a result of the Sixers middle will not be as likable as the 2 different main candidates.
“There’s a lot of players that’s been controlled by their narrative,” Durant mentioned. “Some of it has been due to the participant and a few of it has been concerning the notion different individuals have about that participant. In Joel’s case, extra individuals similar to Giannis (Antetokounmpo) and (Nikola) Jokic.
“It’s as simple as that. His personality, his story I guess. As a basketball player, if people look at just the game and what is on the floor,” Durant continued, “then narrative and who you are and your personality, that stuff doesn’t really matter or shouldn’t matter. Joel, they probably just like those guys better. It’s not fair. But that’s how it goes at time. If I had a vote, I would choose Joel.”
The media has already submitted its votes for MVP and it ought to be a decent race between the three frontcourt All-Stars. Jokic, who led the most recent ESPN media straw ballot, received the award final yr. He averaged 27 factors with 13.8 rebounds and seven.9 assists whereas carrying a shorthanded Nuggets squad to the West’s sixth-seed.
Antetkounmpo, who already owns two MVPs, averaged 29.9 factors with 11.6 boards for the East’s third-seed. Embiid, gunning for his first MVP, led the NBA in scoring at 30.6 factors with 11.7 rebounds for the fourth-seeded Sixers.
Durant mentioned Embiid’s empty MVP trophy case ought to be another excuse to present him the nod, and the brink for back-to-back awards — as Jokic might accomplish and Embiid already did — ought to carry the next threshold.
“I feel like if you are going to win back to back MVPS, it should be like Steph Curry. His first MVP, he averaged 23 points and seven rebounds. His next one, he stepped up such an enormous level (averaged 30.1 points for a 73-win team),” Durant mentioned. “If you are going to get two in a row, you can’t duplicate the same thing you did the year before. That’s just how I feel. … To win two in a row you have to do something way bigger than the year before. I think back-to-back MVPS are special and the season you have to have team-wise and individual-wise, all has to come together to win back-to-back. I feel like Jokic had an incredible season but Joel season was just as good, if not better.”
Durant has his personal case for a second MVP, albeit separated from his first by eight years, after lifting Brooklyn by means of a chaotic season into the play-in match. He averaged 29.9 factors — and the Nets have been 35-19 with him within the lineup — however the 33-year-old mentioned he understands why he’s not within the dialog with xx missed video games.
If he by no means wins once more, nevertheless, Durant will go down as one of many biggest ever with out a number of MVPs.
“There’s a lot of what ifs. In this game, if such and such didn’t get hurt, they would’ve have won this. If it bounced a different way, they wouldn’t be looked at this way,” Durant mentioned. “There’s a lot of ‘what ifs.’ I felt I played at a level where I got better throughout the season and my teammates played well off of me and I played well off of them. I felt like I came in and approached every day like a most valuable player. That’s good enough for me.”
Nets coach Steve Nash, who received back-to-back MVPs for the Suns about 15 years in the past, mentioned it’s not an indictment on Durant’s legacy.
“It’s just the way it is. It’s circumstantial. It’s the time. The year. The story. The narrative,” Nash mentioned. “My best year was the third year (in 2007) and Dirk Nowitzki got MVP. Every year there’s a case for someone else, so it’s not a linear thing where the best player gets it every year. It’s always how does the season go? How many games did they miss? Who else had an exceptional year? What’s the narrative? So it’s one of those things that’s not linear.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com