Joel Embiid gave Philly an MVP caliber season following the offseason betrayal of Ben Simmons, led the Sixers to a 2nd round playoff berth, hitting a playoff game winner 3-pointer against Toronto and pushed the Heat series to 6 games despite breaking his face and tearing two hand ligaments. He embodies Philadelphia and is the perfect hero/ anti-hero in the wake of his former teammates dramatics. He's also a great follow on Twitter and is way too honest to the media in postgame pressers.
- Sean Daley
FanSided Video Editor and Producer
Best fan moment of the year
Game 3 of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Sixers and Raptors are tied at 101 with 2.6 seconds left in overtime. Philadelphia inbounds the ball to Joel Embiid who comes off a screen and sinks a game-winner, with several torn ligaments in his hand, to put his team up 3-0, effectively ending the series. Hurt and exhausted in a building where he suffered an agonizing playoff defeat just three years earlier, the man they call “The Process“ hit a big shot, in a big moment, validating the MVP praise he garnered all season.
Why we needed this fandom this year
At this point in NBA history, it's now commonplace for stars to get fed up with a situation, a team, or a head coach, and demand to be traded. But after suffering a brutal playoff loss in 2021 and having his co-star give a laundry list of excuses why he didn't want to play in Philadelphia and had to sit out the season, Joel put up MVP numbers, played with a broken face (literally) and most importantly embodied a city that values toughness, grit and brotherhood. It's not a stretch to say that Embiid officially joined Allen Iverson & Julius Erving as Philadelphia basketball royalty this year.