Report: Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic Eligible at Forward and Center on All-NBA Ballot

The NBA is giving both Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic an opportunity to make the All-NBA first team even though they play the same position.

Per Mike Singer of the Denver Post, Embiid and Jokic will be eligible on the ballot at center and forward.

NBA reporter Marc Stein noted that if the players get more votes at center than forward, they won't be eligible to make the team at forward regardless of how high their forward vote totals are.

With the end of the regular season approaching, voting for the All-NBA team is becoming a hot topic of discussion.

Embiid and Jokic are likely to end up in the top three of MVP voting. Even though the NBA features more positionless basketball than ever, the All-NBA team is still determined by a traditional five-player lineup with two guards, two forwards and one center.

If you put together a list of the five best players this season, Embiid and Jokic would be on it.

The league has created a loophole that would allow for both of them to be on the All-NBA first team, but it will require a coordinated effort among the voters to make it happen.

There's also no guarantee the voters would select one of them as a first-team forward. Giannis Antetokounmpo is likely the No. 1 option at that position.

And despite the struggles of the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James figures to receive a lot of attention. He is leading the league in scoring (30.0 points per game) and has a higher field-goal percentage (52.3 to 48.8) and true-shooting percentage (61.7 to 60.9) than Embiid.

Embiid's defensive value, however, is significantly greater than what James offers, so there is no easy solution for the voters.

Even though Embiid and Jokic have played only center, the ways they impact the game on both ends of the court go far beyond those of traditional centers.

Jokic essentially plays point center for the Denver Nuggets. The four-time All-Star leads the team in scoring (26.2 points per game), assists (7.9), rebounds (13.5) and steals (1.4).

Embiid has the Philadelphia 76ers in the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference. He ranks second in the league in scoring (29.8 points per game) to go with 11.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game plus 36.2 percent three-point shooting.

Regardless of how the voting turns out, no one can say Embiid and Jokic have been anything less than spectacular.