Philadelphia 76ers: Kendrick Perkins gets Joel Embiid’s MVP story

In case you haven’t heard: Joel Embiid did not win the 2022 KIA NBA Most Valuable Player award.

I know, I know, I hate it too; there isn’t another player in the world who accomplished what Embiid did this year, not Giannis Antetokounmpo, not LeBron James, not even Nikola Jokic, and watching him leave the year awardless is a massive bummer for any Philadelphia 76ers fan who has watched 21 put the team on his back and will them into the championship picture.

Will we look back in a few years with the sobering eyes of hindsight and collectively accept that Embiid’s second-place finish was an all-time flub? Yeah probably, as some folks – including voters for the very award – are already having proverbial buyer’s remorse for what is supposed to be the greatest individual award in the great game of basketball.

But do you know who isn’t backtracking on his MVP predictions? Kendrick Perkins, as he’s been advocating for the Philadelphia 76ers’ center to win the award for months now.

Kendrick Perkins gets how impactful Joel Embiid is to the Philadelphia 76ers.

In sports, as in life, story matters. Extenuating circumstances can change the perception of a win, make an underdog player an instant legend, and put an asterisk on a “Mickey Mouse” championship based on where it was played.

In the opinion of NBA center-turned-ESPN pundit Kendrick Perkins, no player had a better narrative surrounding their MVP run than Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid.

Carry on, indeed.

After coming up short in his MVP pursuit a season prior, watching Ben Simmons quit on his team before the current season could even begin, and having the narrative surrounding his team either outright ignored or viewed as incomplete until the trade deadline passed, Embiid came back better than ever with a newfound maturity both on and off the court and pushed his team to a height previously unimaginable.

Down the team’s primary point guard and best perimeter defender, Embiid embraced playing with Tyrese Maxey despite his lack of experience running the point and hyped up his younger foil any chance he got. Embiid kept the team afloat as they waited for a potential trade, elevated his efforts at both ends of the court at an incredibly high usage rate, and, most importantly of all, kept his team together when a lesser star might allow infighting to tank the season.

With Embiid performing like one of the best players in the world, Daryl Morey elevated his pursuit of talent and walked away from the trade deadline with James Harden, his former franchise player and one of the most complementary facilitators in the association. Whether some worried that the two stars may butt heads, Harden bought into the Doc River’s – read: Joel Embiid’s – culture, and the team finished out the season with the fourth-best record in the East.

I know the MVP is just a regular season award, but when you look at how Embiid has handled his playoff run versus the award’s eventual winner, the narrative clearly shines a better light on South Philly than the Mile High City.

Who knows, maybe this is all for not. Maybe Joel Embiid will win three of the next five MVPs, and we’ll look back at these last two seasons like Shaq’s early run in Orlando. But what if this is as good as it gets? What if Embiid is never this healthy again, or basketball gods forbid, suffers some sort of injury? Then fans will have to look back at two of the best seasons by a Philadelphia 76ers player in some time and wonder what more could “The Process” have done to get some association-wide recognition.