The Philadelphia 76ers had a Defensive Player of the Year finalist in Ben Simmons and an MVP finalist in Joel Embiid. Unfortunately, neither Sixers star received their respective award. The MVP award went to Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic while Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert walked away with the Defensive Player of the Year honors, giving Gobert his third such award.

However, Sixers coach Doc Rivers responded after his All-Star duo got passed on for both awards. Rivers believes both of those guys will win the award within the next couple of years.

“With their youth and growth that we anticipate, I do think in the future in the near future, Ben will be Defensive Player of the Year and Joel will be MVP,” Doc Rivers said according to Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire.

They both had good cases, as Simmons enjoyed his best overall career as a pro, and Embiid was dominant all season long as the Sixers finished with the top record in the Eastern Conference. Rivers speculated some issues with the award voting, or so it seems.

“A lot of times you have to have an MVP season, the year before, before you become the MVP, and same thing with any of these awards.”

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Going off of Rivers' logic, Simmons and Embiid will once again be front-runners in the 2021-2022 NBA season, and if this past year was any indication, they could be considered the favorites for those awards. Granted, Embiid and Simmons missed time, and that could have something to do with it.

The argument between Jokic and Embiid is tough to justify as both had stellar seasons and were the best players on their squads. The Gobert and Simmons debate is also tough, but Gobert's continuous dominance on the defensive end likely helped his case– and that is not to take anything away from Simmons.

Either way, the Sixers can shake it off, as they have bigger things on their mind in their quest for an NBA Finals appearance.