Kevin Durant would choose Joel Embiid as NBA's MVP this season, after his 'numbers were incredible'

NEW YORK — Kevin Durant believes that Joel Embiid should be the 2021-22 NBA MVP.

Durant, who won the award during the 2013-14 season, said that while there were plenty of deserving candidates, he felt Embiid's season was a cut above the rest.

«If I had to choose, I would go Joel Embiid,» the Brooklyn Nets star forward said after Tuesday's walkthrough. «He led the league in scoring, double-doubles, his team won 50 games this year. Numbers were incredible. It's a great year.

»But you can just close your eyes and just pick any one of the guys out of the top six or seven, and you can have a good MVP this year. That shows how great our league is right now and how talented our league is from top to bottom, but I would go with Embiid if I had to choose."

Embiid has expressed disappointment with the way he is viewed by some voters — a theory that Durant backed up while discussing how narrative plays into the MVP voting.

«It's unfortunate,» Durant said. «There's a lot of players that have been controlled by their narrative. Some of it has been because of the player, some of it just has been because of the perception of other people about that player. In Joel's case, more people just like Giannis and Jokic. It's as simple as that. They just prefer them more than Embiid's personality or his story, I guess.»

Durant said that from a basketball standpoint, Embiid's numbers stand up against everyone else's — even those of Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, the player who many in the league believe will win his second straight MVP after the season.

«As a basketball player, people that look at just the game and what happens on the floor, narratives and who you are and your personality, that stuff really doesn't matter,» Durant said. «It