Joel Embiid MVP vote tracker

Updated: 4/14/23

Forty first-place votes for the NBA’s MVP award have been logged, with Joel Embiid having 26 of them. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Denver’s Nikola Jokic each have seven first-place votes. As of right now, the point totals follow:

1. Joel Embiid, 314 points
2. Nikola Jokic, 199 points
3. Giannis Antetokounmpo, 182 points

We’re weeks removed from ESPN’s Straw Poll, which narrowly had Joel Embiid winning MVP. To be exact, he didn’t actually win the first-place votes, but edged Nikola Jokic out by having more second-place votes.

Voting is closed, and it seems like there’s been a massive shift thus far. The Dream Shake’s Max Croes has a yearly google sheet, tracking confirmed votes by those with a ballot — for MVP, All-NBA, Defensive Player of the Year, etc. We nearly have 20 percent of the ballots tracked, which is a healthy sample size of what might come.

It hasn’t even been a day since voting has closed, and Embiid currently has a substantial lead over both Jokic and Antetokounmpo. Nineteen of the 100 ballots have been logged, and Embiid’s first in fourteen of them.

Also of note: Embiid has only been placed third in one of the ballots thus far. There’s still many votes to be logged for third, fourth and fifth for several voters, but it seems like most voters have Embiid in their top two.

Only two confirmed voters have Nikola Jokic as their MVP — the Ringer’s Micheal Pina, and ESPN’s Kevin Pelton. Three voters have Giannis Antetokounmpo winning it — ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins, CBS’s Bill Reiter, and ESPN’s JJ Redick (which I’m sure most Sixer fans will take lightly).

There’s still 80 percent of the vote to be logged, but it seems like this might finally be the year Embiid breaks through and secures his first MVP award.

All-NBA tracking

Early results show that Embiid, Jokic and Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis will likely be the three All-NBA centers for this year’s awards. There isn’t much data tracked in this department yet, but Embiid has five first-team votes; four as a center, and an additional one as a forward next to Jokic (from Fox’s Chris Broussard). Only one logged ballot has Embiid on the second team, coming from Micheal Pina (who voted Jokic as his MVP).

The sample size is limited, but there’s been no mention of James Harden being on an All-NBA team for any ballot. The guard spot is packed with talent, but it’s pretty crazy that Harden hasn’t gotten any love. He’s on a top-three team, led the league in assists, and scored 20 points per game efficiently. I might be biased, but I think people are really overlooking what he’s done this year.

Evan Mobley a dark horse Defensive Player of the Year

It seemed like most considered Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr. or Milwaukee’s Brook Lopez as the next Defensive Player of the Year. However, early voting results have given Cleveland’s Evan Mobley, who is only in his second year, the edge. There’l are seven ballots logged for this award, and Mobley’s first on four of them — Jackson Jr. has two, Golden State’s Draymond Green has one, and Brook Lopez has zero.

Sacramento’s Mike Brown might win Coach of the Year unanimously

All eight of the ballots confirmed for Coach of the Year have Sacramento’s Mike Brown winning the award. It’s insanely early to call anything, but it looks like he’s a lock to win this. Well deserved!