Jayson Tatum Defends Joel Embiid After Seeing All-NBA Results

On Tuesday night, the NBA released the results of the All-NBA team voting. As expected, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was not named the first-team center winner as the league MVP Nikola Jokic picked up that spot for the second-straight year.

Although Embiid could’ve earned first-team honors as a forward, Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo swept everybody with 100 first-place votes. Meanwhile, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum got the edge over Embiid and was named first-team.

Despite becoming the first center to lead the NBA in scoring since 2000 and coming in second place in the race for the league’s Most Valuable Player award, Embiid was named second-team All-NBA.

While Jayson Tatum was happy to finally get his recognition as a top player in the league this past regular season, the Celtics forward acknowledged that the voting system has flaws. And as Tatum suggested some changes in the way the All-NBA teams are put together, he defended Joel Embiid as he believed the Sixers’ big man’s place didn’t make much sense.

"Joel Embiid was second in MVP voting and made second team. Doesn't really make too much sense."

Jayson Tatum speaks out on the voting criteria for the All-NBA team pic.twitter.com/F0StOVEbfM
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 25, 2022

“There should be some rules in place,” Tatum said. “I don’t know exactly the number but, maybe you should have to play a certain number of games. Maybe you are a playoff team or not. I do think it should probably be position-less, you know? Joel Embiid was second in MVP voting and made second-team. That doesn’t really make too much sense, right? I think it should just be the 15 best players.”

As expected, Sixers fans weren’t thrilled with the fact that Embiid was voted as the second-most valuable player in the NBA but then not considered a top-five player a few weeks later. It seems Tatum raises the same questions as it points to an obvious flaw in the voting system.

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

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