When the Denver heads to Philadelphia Saturday for an enormous matchup on ABC, it will likely be two-time reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic main his Nuggets in opposition to two-time reigning MVP runner-up Joel Embiid and his 76ers in what may very well be deemed the Battle of the MVPs.

In Yr 3 of their private rivalry for the highest common season award within the NBA, Jokic is at the moment the odds-on favourite to execute a historic three-peat that will place Jokic within the absolute highest echelon in NBA historical past alongside the eight different gamers with no less than three MVPs, all of whom simply identifiable by a single title: Jordan. LeBron. Magic. Kareem. Wilt. Russell. Chook. Moses.

In accordance with Caesars Sportsbook, Jokic is -165 to win the MVP. Embiid (+750) is fourth amongst favorites, trailing Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum. If we do the maths, these odds counsel that Jokic is greater than 10 instances extra prone to win this MVP than Embiid is.

Ought to he be?

Outdoors of what a participant does on-court, MVP races are sometimes settled based mostly upon the dominant narrative. Coming into this season, it was thought that Jokic would battle a formidable counter-narrative that he “should not” be allowed to hitch the “one-named three-time MVP membership” earlier than he and the Nuggets have received no less than one NBA title.

Nevertheless, after persevering with to play at MVP stage for greater than half the season and, extra importantly, main the Nuggets to one of the best document and prime seed within the Western Convention, Jokic has acquired a counter-counter-narrative enhance. The brand new prevailing sentiment that has made him the odds-on favourite to win facilities across the thought that, if he can play at that stage and lead his group to the highest of the heap, no outdated mode of interested by needing a hoop ought to disqualify Jokic from profitable once more.

That counter-counter-narrative is, once more, strongly dependent upon Jokic’s place because the candidate with one of the best clear mixture of online game manufacturing and group success. Luka Doncic is taken into account to have manufacturing on Jokic’s stage, however the Mavericks haven’t got the group success. The Celtics do have the group success, however the notion is that Jayson Tatum would not have fairly the identical stage of manufacturing as Jokic.

Curiously, in line with ESPN’s impression stat Actual Plus Minus, Tatum has really been the very best impression participant within the NBA up to now by each RPM and RPM Wins, so notion could not match actuality, however proper now notion guidelines the day.

Then, there’s Embiid.

Whereas Jokic is sort of averaging a triple-double at 25.1 PPG, 11.0 RPG and 9.9 APG, Embiid counters by main the NBA in scoring as a part of his 33.4 PPG, 9.8 RPG, 4.1 APG statline. Jokic has an absurd signature sport of the season up to now with a 40-point, 27-rebound, 10-assist triple-double. However once more, Embiid matches that with a simply as memorable 59-point, 11-rebound, 8-assist, 7-blocks efficiency.

And whereas Jokic’s Nuggets lead the Western Convention with a 34-15 document, Embiid’s 76ers very quietly has moved into the second-best document within the Jap Convention and third-best document within the NBA at 31-16 with the longest present win streak within the NBA at six video games and counting.

This does not seem like a contest the place one participant ought to be 10-times extra prone to win than the opposite, however let’s dig deeper.

In latest weeks, I’ve detailed how central Jokic is to the offense of the Nuggets, and in addition how the 76ers’ offensive assault is constructed round Embiid, using scouting software program to cement the instances. Merely, Jokic is one of the best passing huge man of his era (maybe of all-time) whereas concurrently possessing probably the greatest, most effective soar photographs of all time, a combo of which permits him to create team-offense and generate spacing that makes life simpler on his teammates to a league-best diploma.

Embiid, then again, is without doubt one of the dominant ISO gamers within the NBA, and is in a position to attract a lot defensive consideration along with his capacity to attain that it opens up his group stuffed with shooters and robust 1-on-1 gamers to get straightforward seems to be and/or assault imbalanced defenses. The scouting analytics help these statements, however it’s simply summarized by the impression information, with Jokic and Embiid rating 1-2 amongst facilities in offensive RPM.

However, what about on the opposite finish of the courtroom?

Whereas Embiid’s 76ers have the sixth-best group defensive ranking within the NBA, a fraction of a degree outdoors the top-5, Jokic’s Nuggets are fifteenth within the league, proper in the midst of the pack. Scouting analytics once more assist us break down the extent of every participant’s defensive prowess. In accordance with Second Spectrum, Embiid permits solely 0.75 factors per likelihood to opponents because the ballhandler defender in Isolations, the eleventh finest mark within the NBA (amongst gamers to defend no less than 50 isolations). Jokic, then again, permits 0.99 factors per likelihood to rank 123rd.

Equally, when defending the commonest set within the NBA — the pick-and-roll/pop — Embiid has allowed 0.88 factors per likelihood because the screener defender in on-ball picks to rank ninth within the NBA (amongst 113 gamers to defend no less than 250 picks), whereas Jokic permits 0.96 factors per likelihood to rank forty eighth.

In truth, because the closest defender on all photographs, per Second Spectrum Embiid ranks twenty sixth (amongst 94 gamers to defend no less than 450 photographs) by permitting a 52.1 EFG% whereas Jokic ranks seventy fifth of 94 by permitting a 57.1 EFG%.

It is easy to see and display that Embiid is the higher defender of the 2. It ought to be famous that, regardless of Embiid’s defensive benefits, Jokic nonetheless ranks barely forward in impression as measured by RPM. These two at all times measure very equally in RPM; they completed sixth and seventh in a digital tie in Jokic’s first MVP season of 2020-21, 1st and 2nd final season, and are at the moment 2nd and fifth this season… although it ought to be famous that Jokic’s 8.3 RPM and Embiid’s 7.7 are nearer collectively than second-place Jokic is to first place Tatum (9.6 RPM).

However, Embiid’s defensive benefit speaks to a bigger narrative level: the postseason is way more about protection and 1-on-1 mismatches than the common season. And, Jokic’s effectiveness went down in each the 2020 and 2021 playoffs in collection in opposition to Anthony Davis and Deandre Ayton, respectively.

Embiid, in the meantime, has been simply as individually dominant within the postseason as within the common season in latest seasons, so long as he was wholesome.

Whereas the MVP is a daily season award, the preliminary questions on Jokic profitable three straight earlier than profitable a hoop may re-surface if the race comes all the way down to the wire between he and Embiid for a 3rd straight season.

And therein lies the rub. Jokic is a really deserving MVP candidate this season. In fantasy basketball, he is the undisputed king, one of the best fantasy producer on each a per-game foundation and total.

However, within the MVP race, Embiid has sturdy arguments as properly that would get stronger because the season goes alongside. If he stays wholesome and will get the 76ers into the No. 1 seed within the East, Embiid could have the stats, the group success and certain his personal highly effective narratives.

And, returning to the futures angle, I agree that Jokic really ought to be favored over Embiid as they enter Saturday’s sport. However, there is not any manner that he is 11 instances extra deserving of the award than Embiid proper now, and if he stays wholesome I feel Embiid’s case will solely get higher from right here. I look ahead to watching the Battle of the MVPs on the courtroom on Saturday.

In my futures bets, I am at the moment backing the underdog as the higher worth than the odds-on favourite.