Joel Embiid on Pace to Join Legendary Scoring Company
Over the past three years, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has proven to be one of the most dominant forces in the league. If he's able to maintain his current pace, the reigning MVP could pull off something that's only been done eight times in history.
While Embiid has been in the MVP conversation for the past few seasons, his scoring is something that has gone overlooked at times. Along with finally winning the award last year, the All-Star center also secured his second straight scoring title with a PPG average of 33.1 (career-high).
Despite another offseason full of off-the-court drama, Embiid and the Sixers have hit the ground running to open the 2023-24 season. Currently, they sit in second place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 10-3.
A large part of why the Sixers are off to their best start in over a decade is because of the dominant play of Embiid. Even without having an elite playmaker in James Harden to set him up, he continues to put up big scoring numbers.
Through his first 13 games, Embiid has reached at least 30 points on eight different occasions. His season high came against the Washington Wizards two weeks ago, when he erupted for 48 points in only 30 minutes of action.
On Sunday, Embiid notched a near triple-double (32 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists) in a blowout win over the Brooklyn Nets. With this performance, he reclaimed the points per game lead for this season. Embiid sits at 31.9 PPG for the year, with Kevin Durant not far behind him at 31.4.
If Embiid is able to lead the league in scoring again, he'll become just the ninth player in history to win the scoring title three years in a row. Ironically enough, the last player to accomplish this feat was Harden from 2018 to 2020.
The list of players to do this includes multiple Hall of Fame talents. The most notable being Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain. Others include Durant, George Gervin, and Bob McAdoo.
As the main focal point of the Sixers' offense, Embiid is surely going to put up big scoring numbers again this year. He has some stiff competition to beat out, but he'll certainly be in the mix to join this elite company.
