Joel Embiid Edging Out Nikola Jokic in All-Around Statistic

For the last three seasons, Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid has been in a head-to-head battle with Nikola Jokic for the MVP award. While the Denver Nuggets star took home the award twice, Embiid finally got his due last year.

When discussions broke out about these two players, Jokic's all-around game was a key talking point. Along with being a high scorer, he is also one of the league's top playmakers. Jokic's ability to run an offense at the center position is something the game has never seen before.

Over the years, Embiid has slowly managed to grow that area of his game. Now, he too, is an above-average playmaker at the center position. So far this season, Embiid is averaging a career-high 6.1 assists per game. Over the weekend, he nearly notched a triple-double in a blowout win over the Brooklyn Nets.

With this newly improved area of his game, Embiid too has become one of the NBA's top all-around players. In fact, Embiid has the highest combined points/rebounds/assists averages of any player, nearly edging out Jokic, who is just behind him.

Most PPG + RPG + APG this season:

49.4 — Joel Embiid
49.2 — Nikola Jokic
46.6 — Luka Doncic
45.0 — Giannis Antetokounmpo pic.twitter.com/4RifabgMe9
— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 22, 2023

The driving force in Embiid's high combined average is his dominant scoring. Through 14 games, he is on pace to lead the league in points per game yet again. Overall, his averages sit at 31.9 PPG, 11.3 RPG, and 6.1 APG.

With James Harden departing this season, the Sixers needed to fill the void he left as a playmaker. Tyrese Maxey has done an incredible job, but Embiid also deserves a lot of credit. New head coach Nick Nurse has deployed a movement-heavy style offense that's allowed the All-Star center to find open cutters when defenses collapse on him.

Seeing how Embiid and Jokic claim the top two spots, the pair of centers could very well be battling it out for MVP once again this year.