The NBA announced the latest Player of the Month winners for December on Tuesday. Star of the Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic, won the Western Conference. Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid won the Eastern Conference.

 

With his victory on Tuesday, Joel Embiid won the monthly award for the fifth time in his career. With that, Embiid has officially surpassed Hall of Famer and former 76ers legend Allen Iverson regarding the number of Player of the Month awards in Sixers history.

 

Embiid last won the award in February of last year, when he was selected as the Player of the Month for January 2022. The first Sixer to receive the monthly honor twice in a row was Embiid at the time. At that point, he and Iverson were tied for the most monthly honors in franchise history.

 

Back-to-back monthly honors for Embiid during the 2017–18 season complemented his MVP campaign well. Embiid had a compelling argument to be named the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in 2022 when you combine those two things with his first-ever scoring title in the league.

 

Unfortunately, Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets defeated the big man of the Sixers, the Sixers, to lose that championship for the second consecutive year. His MVP campaign is picking up steam once more, so Philadelphia’s center might experience different outcomes this season.

 

Embiid received the December Player of the Month award for the second consecutive season for his efforts. Embiid participated in all 13 of the Sixers’ games in December and helped the team to a 9-4 record, which included an eight-game winning streak at starting the season.

 

Throughout this time, Embiid scored 35 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, one steal, and two blocks per game. With 460 points, 129 rebounds, and 23 blocks, he joins Moses Malone, Bob McAdoo, and Shaquille O’Neal as the only players to reach comparable totals throughout 13 games.