And Booker and CP3 kinda cancel each other out/aren’t statistically dominant enough to give the award to. Next up is the Grizzlies, but they were awesome with Ja out. Then there’s the Warriors, where everyone was injured and they were super cold at the end.

So that’s how it came down to Joker, Embiid, and Giannis. I get that it’s not usually given to someone on a 48 win team, but the Bucks and Sixers were only 3 wins better. I thought it would go to Embiid, but it’s tough to justify any one of those just going off of record.

Edit: also, I really don’t get why there are hot takes when an MVP or his team performs poorly in the playoffs. It happens every few years. I mean criticize his/the team’s performance all you want, that’s fair game, but to use that to say someone didn’t deserve a regular season award makes absolutely no sense. He could put up goose eggs every playoff game and it doesn’t matter in regards to the MVP discussion.