Getty Zach LaVine #8 of the Chicago Bulls and Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers.
If Chicago Bulls star Zach LaVine had his way, the MVP choice would be a clear one: Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid.
“I think he shoulda won one already,” LaVine told NBC Sports Chicago Bulls insider K.C. Johnson on March 22. “I think Jokic has been incredible too. He’s won back-to-back, so you don’t take anything away from him. Obviously, Giannis is incredible. But I think Embiid has it wrapped up this year. He’s that good.”
Embiid is leading the league in scoring averaging 33.6 points adding 10.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists on .546/.351/.855 shooting splits. There have been 15 players to achieve a 30-point, 10-rebound, four-assist stat line in NBA history including Embiid last season, per Stathead.
But none of them have done it with the efficiency with which he is this season.
“What I can control is to try to win a championship,” Embiid said, per Melissa Rohlin of FOX Sports. “And I feel like that’s the only way I’m going to get that respect. So, that’s where all the focus is.”
Johnson notes that LaVine works out with Embiid, among others, in the offseason. The two have faced off 12 times in their careers with the latter coming out ahead 10-2.
Parsing Joel Ebmiid and Nikola Jokic’s MVP Credentials
Philly is currently third in the Eastern Conference. They are 8-2 in the last 10 games after the Bulls snapped their eight-game winning streak.
Embiid’s top competition, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets has slipped in recent weeks.
The NBA MVP odds are everchanging between Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic👀
@JenksDC breaks down where the value is…
For whatever it is worth, LaVine’s teammate and Embiid’s counterpart on the floor on the Bulls, Nikola Vucevic has put his support behind the Nuggets big man.
“I think he deserves to get another one, the way he’s playing. I think you take him out of that team, it’s not even close to the same team,” Vucevic said, via NBC Sports Chicago. “The things that he does, you look at his stats, the efficiency he’s playing at, it’s very impressive.
Jokic is averaging 24.7/11.9/9.9 on .634/.394/.818 splits.
He would become the only player since Oscar Robertson in 1962 to pull of that feat should those numbers hold.
Zach LaVine Sparking Bulls’ Post-All-Star Surge
The Bulls are 8-4 since the All-Star break after entering it on a six-game losing skid. That put them behind the eight-ball battling for a backend spot in the Play-In Tournament just as LaVine’s health was coming around.
“Coming out of the break, we knew where we were in the standings,” LaVine said in the latest episode of Chicago Bulls: All-Access on March 22. “So throwing everything at it over the last three months, I’ve really felt like myself after coming back from injury in the beginning of the year.”
LaVine averaged 21.8 points on 55.8% true shooting over his first 25 games of the season following arthroscopic knee surgery in the summer.
Since then, he has averaged 27.0 points on 63.3% true shooting hitting 39.3% of his threes.
The 27-year-old LaVine – who is in the first year of a five-year, $215 million max contract – has overtaken teammate DeMar DeRozan for the team scoring lead in that 42-game span without missing one game.