Joel Embiid was one of the best players in the world this season and was one of the three finalists for the NBA MVP award along with Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
You could make legitimate arguments for all 3 of them and you’d be absolutely correct. But everyone has been waiting and waiting just to find out who will actually win it.
Despite knowing that we won’t know who the MVP is until the season is actually over, fans are holding on to every sign of which one of the three of them might actually win it — even if we’re reaching conspiracy levels with this stuff.
Like this NBA.com recap article that accidentally listed Joel Embiid as MVP after Game 3 against the Miami Heat.
Yes, this happened.
“Kia MVP Joel Embiid.” Look at this article on https://t.co/cvLmznKTa5. 👀
(h/t @basketbllnews) pic.twitter.com/I3M6DtguFl
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 7, 2022
OH MY WORD. RING THE ALARM. SEND THE SMOKE SIGNAL. IT IS DONE….Or not.
Look, this was just an accident. Embiid might still very well win MVP. But the NBA isn’t going to leak that through a game recap article. That’s just not how this works.
The article was eventually updated to say “MVP finalist” instead of MVP. This was just an accident by someone. Basketball News was on it.
https://t.co/e35pk6hrWW just updated the link to say "Kia MVP finalist Joel Embiid."
— BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) May 7, 2022
Still, fans lost their minds over this.
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I want you to let them know we’re back up. https://t.co/T0NTYktvvN
— albert (@onedequo) May 7, 2022
Guys, my heart can’t handle this… https://t.co/cAWT3rLpcf
— Jamie Morton (@JamieLM9583) May 7, 2022
No way https://t.co/VahozY4XkL
— 🕷 (@Esco4PF) May 7, 2022
Please let it be true 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻 #EMVPiid https://t.co/Zjf1eBt3vY
— Sophio (@Sophieugb) May 7, 2022
LETS GO!!!!!! https://t.co/3S8LO4vOcP
— Go! (@okaytango) May 7, 2022
YESSIR‼️‼️‼️ https://t.co/2AfN9sCNVJ
— A$VP ✪ (@asvpabdi) May 7, 2022
PLEASE https://t.co/yu8hX2wwHW
— uVBZ🌬 (@LazIsMommy) May 7, 2022
https://t.co/DxBfEcAwN2 knows ball https://t.co/PNHVzOS8mJ
— Turtle (DirksGOAT) (@Sageof6turtles) May 7, 2022
YESSSIRRR!!!!! https://t.co/CQn3JCngDR
— 🎸 (@XxGodIsBlackXx) May 7, 2022
Feeling a little tingly https://t.co/ZDLmeBBIBo
— Black and Blue Pod (@BnBpodofficial) May 7, 2022
W leak https://t.co/6fYIzuXs5g
— NBAADDICTTV (@NBAADDICTTV) May 7, 2022
Whew boy. Look how much excitement one mistake has given people. There’s a lesson to be learned in all of this. And that lesson is: The NBA needs to announce awards before the postseason starts.
Then we don’t have these problems.