National Basketball Association

Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid gives impassioned MVP speech

Updated May. 5, 2023 10:58 p.m. ET

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was named the 2022-23 NBA MVP — the first of his first career — on Tuesday. He was honored before Philadelphia's Game 3 second-round matchup against the Boston Celtics on Friday evening in the team's first home game since the announcement.

Embiid referenced his family as the reason for his success and credited the fans for supporting him and the 76ers over the years in a heartfelt speech to the crowd.

Embiid beat out former back-to-back MVP Nikola Jokić of the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo for this year's highly coveted award.

Embiid averaged a league-leading 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 54.8/33.0/84.7 across the 66 regular-season games that he appeared in this season.

The Sixers swept the Brooklyn Nets in the opening round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. They went on to win Game 1 against Boston without Embiid, who suffered a knee injury in Game 3 of the previous series. The Celtics evened up the scoreboard by winning Game 2, though.

Philadelphia finished the regular season 54-28, good for third in the East.

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