How the Joel Embiid injury news affects the MVP race in the NBA?

Joel Embiid, the reigning MVP and Philadelphia 76er could lose his eligibility to be able to qualify for the reward with his new injury news. Adrian Wojnarowksi of ESPN tweeted the Sixers Center will miss time with an injury to his lateral meniscus.

Embiid was looking to win his second MVP award averaging 35.3 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists. Embiid is in danger of not qualifying for the leagues new 65 game rule. In order to win the MVP award, the player must play a minimum of 65 games. With the amount of games left and some time already missed for Embiid, he is only able to miss five more games until he is disqualified from the award. With Embiid’s MVP hopes in the air we look at other candidates for the MVP award.

Nikola Jokic - Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has been playing very well this year. Some would say worse than years in the past but he is still putting up MVP numbers. The Nuggets have a 33-16 record with Jokic averaging 26.1 points, 12.1 rebounds and 9.0 assists.  Whenever Jokic is on the floor they are at their best and his offensive threat is what makes him so dangerous. However Denver is currently fourth in the western conference due to I think teams trying to make Jokic more of a scorer than distributor. Passing might be Jokic’s best attribute especially from the Center position. Jokic is no stranger to the award, the back-to-back winner 2 years ago is coming off his first NBA championship and can add another MVP to his resume.

Shai Gilgeous Alexander -  The guard from the Thunder is currently leading his team into becoming one of the young great teams with a bright future. Shai is averaging 31.3 points, 6.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds. While shooting an efficient 54% from the field. When looking at the surge of the Thunder, Shai is at the nucleus. With the Thunder in the second seed in the west and the third best record in the NBA he becomes an immediate MVP candidate. With no other true all-star on the team he should see MVP views from people around the league if they stay atop the west.

Jayson Tatum - Celtics forward Jayson Tatum is once again playing at an elite level while leading the Celtics to having the current best record in the NBA at 37-12. Tatum at only 25 years old has not won an MVP trophy but has been in the voting for the last two years. He is currently averaging 26.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists. I think the Celtics have the best roster they’ve had in the last few years, if they can keep on maintaining the top record in the NBA he should be considered heavily. Tatum could have his eyes on a different trophy this year despite not having an MVP.