Now that the NBA regular season is over, the 3 finalists for the MVP have been announced: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Joel Embiid. It is incredibly rare nowadays to have all 3 finalists to be all power forwards and centers. This year there isn’t a clear front frontrunner, with all 3 of them having very good resumes and their own reasons they should be MVP.

Nikola Jokic is the defending MVP. He has dragged his injury-riddled Nuggets into the 6th seed averaging 27 ppg, 13 rpg, and 7 apg. He would fit the name Most Valuable due to the rest of his team being bad.

Next is the 2-time MVP Giannis. He got his Milwaukee Bucks into the 3 seed in a strong Eastern Conference with almost 30 ppg, 11 rpg, and 5 apg. He has been arguably the most dominant this season, but he has reached the point where these kind of seasons are normal and expected from him, which hurts his case.

Finally we have Joel Embiid.  He has led the Philadelphia 76ers to the 4th in the East. He has averaged 30 ppg, 11 rpg, and 4 apg. He has also had arguably the most impressive and dominant season this year, with many standout performances throughout the year. He is the only one without an MVP award, which helps his chance because of voter fatigue for the other 2 finalists.

My pick for MVP is Embiid. We’ll have to see who wins later in the playoffs.