Joel Embiid was named NBA MVP on Tuesday night, beating out Nikola Jokic and stopping a three-peat, which had NBA Twitter ready with memes and reactions.
Nikola Jokic was vying for his third straight NBA MVP trophy, but Joel Embiid had other plans. On Tuesday night, it was made official that the Philadelphia 76ers big man was the spoiler to the Nuggets star’s three-peat bid as Embiid was named league MVP for the first time in his career.
Embiid had been the runner-up to Jokic in each of the past two years in the MVP race but wholly earned the award in the 2022-23 season, particularly in the highly contested race that truly came down to the wire between him, Jokic and, at least for some, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The 29-year-old big man had a career year with monster numbers for the Sixers, averaging 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 blocks per game while converting on 54.8% of his field goal attempts for the season.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Embiid said after being named MVP on the TNT broadcast.
Joel Embiid wins NBA MVP: Best memes and tweets from NBA Twitter
It definitely had been a long time coming for Embiid given his talent. And NBA Twitter celebrated in the best way it knows how — with an elite collection of memes and tweets in reaction to the news that the 76ers star is now a one-time MVP winner.
EMBIID IS THIS YEAR'S MVP 🏆
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 2, 2023
No three-peat for the Joker pic.twitter.com/d7Dd1JjGpC
Embiid was built for this 🥊🏆 pic.twitter.com/zPeQdKxecf
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 2, 2023
To everyone who said Joel Embiid wouldn’t win MVP…two words for ya pic.twitter.com/3DsBKesapl
— Jeff McDevitt (@JeffMcDev) May 2, 2023
Joel Embiid has been playing unreal, MVP-level basketball for the last three seasons. He couldn't be more deserving of this MVP.
— Tom West (@TomWestNBA) May 2, 2023
I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it but we can all admit it's pretty funny that Joel Embiid wins the Most Valuable Player award the day after his team won a road playoff game without him, right?
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) May 2, 2023
A moment of silence for the Embiid MVP deniers 🤫 pic.twitter.com/B1GAo0Jknu
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 2, 2023
https://twitter.com/PresidentEmbiid/status/1653542162833784832
giannis and jokic testing embiid’s mvp pic.twitter.com/bXnNkoODfH
— 𝐬𝐞a✬ (@destroynectar) May 2, 2023
But maybe the best reaction to the news came from the Sixers themselves with this iconic photo and edit.
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) May 2, 2023
There are obviously going to be people who still argue that Jokic or Giannis deserved it, but that speaks to the tight race we saw, not to Embiid being undeserving.
More importantly, though, Embiid and Philly are in a great spot after the big man was forced to miss Game 1 of the East semifinals against the Celtics as James Harden led a major upset on the road to give the 76ers a 1-0 lead as Embiid tries to get back on the floor.