Although this season's NBA regular season is not yet fully over, there is little suspense about the ownership of the scoring king, and Joel Embiid will be the first center to be crowned the leading scorer after Shaq O'Neal in the 1999-00 season. Embiid has won 40+20 in the regular season for the third time, what level of performance has this been in the long history of the NBA?
In the 76ers' 133-120 win over the Pacers, Embiid hit 14 of his 17 shots in 36 minutes of playing time, including 2 three-point shots, 11 of 15 free throws, 41 points, 20 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block, and the third time in his NBA career 40+20!
With only one game left in the regular season this season, Embiid has averaged 30.6 points, 11.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game in 68 regular season games so far, leading the league's second-ranked LeBron James by 0.3 points per game and Kevin Durant, who is third in the league, basically locking up the scoring title this season. In this way, Embiid will become the first center in nearly 22 years to win the NBA's scoring champion.
In the long history of the NBA, only 42 players have performed in a single game of 40+20+ in the regular season, of which only 20 have completed such feats more than once, and only 3 active players have performed this way more than once, in addition to Embiid, there are Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, of which "Thick Brow Brother" ranks first in active duty with 4 times, and Embiid and Cousins are tied for second place in active duty with 3 times.
In NBA history, Embiid has won 40+20 data in the regular season three times and can also be tied for 13th place. It is worth mentioning that Shaq O'Neal, who is considered to be the "last dominant center" in NBA history, has only played 40+20 in 4 regular season games in his entire NBA career, and the first in NBA history is the "basketball emperor" Chamberlain who has completed such feats 228 times, and Elgin Baylor, who ranks second in the history of this data, has only performed this 34 times.
Embiid, who was the 2014 NBA Draft Talent Show, has only played 6 seasons in the NBA, and this season is the first time in his NBA career that he has played no less than 65 regular season games in a single season, and he still plays a high-quality performance. Do you think he'll be crowned regular season MVP this season? I don't think it's very likely.