Philadelphia 76ers' six-time All-Star center Joel Embiid won the 2022-23 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player award on Tuesday, the NBA announced on its website.
Cameroon native Embiid, 29, beat finalists Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) in voting to win the prestigious award for the first time in his career.
Jokic finished runner-up in the MVP voting, and Antetokounmpo came in third.
"It's been a long time coming," Embiid said.
"A lot of hard work. I've been through a lot. I'm not just talking about basketball. I'm talking about my life. My story. Where I come from. How I got here and what it took for me to be here," he remarked in a live video posted on Twitter.
Embiid, a long-time 76ers player, averaged 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game this season.
He is the first Sixers player to win the regular season MVP award since Allen Iverson in 2001. Julius Erving in 1981, Moses Malone in 1983, and Wilt Chamberlain in 1966-1968 were the other 76ers who won the NBA's top individual award.
Meanwhile, Embiid from Yaounde became the second winner from Africa. The Sixers star joined Nigerian-US former center Hakeem Olajuwon, who won it as a Houston Rockets player in 1994.
NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 76, who retired from the game in 1989, won the MVP award a record six times.
