Joel Embiid recently emerged as the odds-on favorite to win the MVP award this season. However, the Philadelphia 76ers center suffered an injury which will keep him out of action for at least two weeks.
According to sports analyst Chris Broussard, Embiid’s injury opens the door for LeBron James to win the MVP award which would be his 5th and would tie Michael Jordan.
“It opens it up for LeBron to win his 5th MVP award and match the greatest player of all-time, Michael Jordan,” Broussard said on First Things First.
“It’s there for LeBron but look at Embiid, he was my front-runner at this point and he was many people’s front-runner, if he comes back in two weeks and plays the rest of the season, which is unlikely, he usually sits out here and there, he will have still missed more than 20 percent of the games.
“No player has won the MVP award missing anything close to that since writers began voting in 1981. Embiid is essentially out of the MVP race. It’s there for the taking of LeBron James. The problem is this: the Lakers have only been 8-7 this season without Anthony Davis. Davis is out the next two weeks as well. If LeBron can lead them on a nice run without AD, he could put himself squarely in first place. They’ve lost 6 of their last 9 [games] without Anthony Davis. SO LeBron’s got to pick it up and get the Lakers going without AD.”
James is averaging 25.6 points, 7.9 rebounds and 7.8 assists per game in his 18th season in the NBA. He has won four MVP awards so far, the last one of them came eight years ago (2009, 2010, 2012, 2013).
