For every single horrible “take” on ESPN, it’s always nice to acknowledge when they finally end up getting something right.

Stephen A. Smith was on First Take last Wednesday talking about Joel Embiid officially wrapping up the NBA MVP Award after his 52-point masterclass against the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night.

Stephen A. Smith: Joel Embiid is the NBA MVP

It’s funny how quickly things can change. Just last week the NBA released their updated MVP Rankings and had Nikola Jokic leapfrog Embiid, after the Sixers big man missed what everyone thought was a critical game No. 75 against the Denver Nuggets.

Fast forward to this week and we have Joel Embiid overtaking Jokic in the final NBA MVP Ladder Rankings of the season and Stephen A. Smith crowning him the league’s Most Valuable Player.

Updated MVP Ladder Rankings

Look, unless you’re a complete loser like Ryen Russillo and the rest of the dorks over at The Ringer, then you definitely know by now that the general consensus is that Joel Embiid officially ended the NBA MVP discussion when he dropped 52 points in a 103-101 win over the Boston Celtics.

Here are all the highlights from Joel Embiid’s 52-point masterclass against the Celtics. Embiid added 13 rebounds, six assists, and two blocks on the night while shooting 20-for-25 from the floor to go along with a near-perfect 12-of-13 from the foul line.

JOEL EMBIID: 52 PTS | 13 REB | 6 AST | 2 BLK

The performance was acknowledged by the entire world as one of the greatest ever by an NBA basketball player. Every star player in the league (Dame, Steph, Jimmy) mentioned it and said that there is NO DOUBT that Joel Embiid deserves to win the MVP this season. Jimmy Butler even took it a step further, adding “he should have won it last year too” which you know I absolutely loved.

Point being, there isn’t ANYONE with half of a brain that would say otherwise. 

Last night, the Philadelphia 76ers hosted the Miami Heat in their last home game of the 2022-23 season and lost 129-101. Embiid and James Harden did play in the game, but really it was treated more as a scrimmage than a regular season matchup.

Embiid played 30 minutes, scoring 21 points to go along with six rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. Harden played 28 minutes, shooting 5-of-12 from the floor with four rebounds and four assists.

Tonight, the Sixers will face the Atlanta Hawks on the road before finishing up the regular season in Brooklyn on Sunday night.

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