Blazers' Damian Lillard Says NBA MVP is Sixers' Joel Embiid or Nuggets' Nikola Jokic

The 2020-2021 NBA regular season is in the books. With the Eastern Conference playoff bracket set, and the Western Conference's Play-In Tournament concluding on Friday night, it's now time to start looking at end-of-season awards.

With the NBA season starting later than usual this year with a condensed schedule, the MVP conversation started quite early. When the talks started prematurely this year, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was at the forefront.

At this point, with the regular season in the rearview, nothing has changed. Despite the Sixers' big man missing a chunk of games this year due to several setbacks, Embiid still wrapped up the year as an MVP candidate. And on Thursday night, the NBA officially named Embiid, a finalist.

Joel Embiid is an #NBA MVP finalist #Sixers pic.twitter.com/AudjVyST9k
— Justin Grasso (@JGrasso_) May 20, 2021

Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic and Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry are among those who are finalists with Embiid. While each player has a case to win the hardware this year, Portland Trail Blazers superstar Damian Lillard weighed in on the conversation recently, where he picked between Embiid and Jokic.

"I mean, it's (Jokic) or Embiid," Lillard told The Athletic's, Sam Amick. "I don’t see how you don’t give it to him or Embiid." While Lillard believes Embiid is certainly deserving of being a finalist, the Blazers star believes he doesn't have the edge to win it.

"I would give it to (Jokic) over Embiid just because Embiid missed games. He’s played more games than everybody. He’s been in every game, and he’s performed. Jamal Murray got hurt. Will Barton got hurt. And they kept rolling."

Availability was always going to be the factor that would keep Embiid from earning MVP honors this year. Regardless, the MVP race will be a tight one between Embiid, Jokic, and Curry.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.