Joel Embiid
Joel Embiid is a professional basketball player from Cameroon, known for his dominant presence as a center in the NBA. Standing at seven feet tall, he was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers as the third overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, despite facing significant injuries that delayed the start of his career. After a successful college season at the University of Kansas, where he garnered several accolades, Embiid made his NBA debut in 2016. Overcoming early career challenges, including knee surgeries and personal tragedy, he emerged as a top player, earning multiple All-Star selections and leading the NBA in scoring.
In May 2023, Embiid was awarded his first NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) title, marking a significant achievement in his career. Notably, he has set franchise records for the 76ers, including scoring 70 points in a single game, a feat accomplished in January 2024. Off the court, Embiid is a family man; he welcomed his first child in 2020 and married his partner in 2023. Widely regarded for his skill set and work ethic, Embiid is considered one of the most complete superstars in NBA history.
Joel Embiid
Basketball player
- Born: March 16, 1994
- Place of Birth: Yaoundé, Cameroon
Significance: After a year of playing college basketball at the University of Kansas, seven-foot Joel Embiid was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers as the third overall pick in the 2014 National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft. Despite a two-year delay between the NBA Draft and the start of Embiid’s rookie year, the dominant center was regarded as one of the greatest big men in the game. In May 2023, Embiid earned his first NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award.
Background
Joel Hans Embiid was born on March 16, 1994, in Yaoundé, Cameroon, to Christine and her husband Thomas, who was a military officer. He grew up in a middle-class family, the oldest of three children. Embiid developed a love of sports early in life but spent his time focusing on volleyball. Acknowledging their son’s athletic prowess, the Embiids assumed he would continue his volleyball training at the National Institute of Sport and Physical Education in France and secure a spot on Cameroon’s national team. Instead, Embiid, who grew to be six-foot-nine-inches by the time he was fifteen, discovered basketball.
In 2009, Embiid attended a basketball camp offered by Luc Mbah a Moute, a native of Cameroon who played for the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks at the time. The pro ball player took Embiid under his wing and provided financial assistance to help him move to the United States to finish high school. At sixteen, Embiid was initially enrolled at Mbah a Moute’s alma mater, Montverde Academy, a private school in Florida known for nurturing young basketball players. When he did not get a significant amount of playing time, Embiid transferred to The Rock School, a private Christian academy in Florida, to complete his senior year. He led The Rock Lions to a state championship title, averaging 13.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game.
As a five-star college recruit, Embiid committed to the University of Kansas in 2012. In his freshman season with the Jayhawks, 2013–14, Embiid was named one of thirty finalists for the Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year Award. He was also named to the All-Big 12 Second Team and received Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors.
A Career Plagued by Injuries
On June 26, 2014, Joel Embiid was selected third overall by the Philadelphia 76ers. At the time of the draft, Embiid was recovering from a foot fracture, which was frequently a career-ending injury for big players. Embiid’s rehabilitation from surgery took longer than expected, darkening his mood as he was sidelined for two full seasons. Additionally, his younger brother, Arthur, died in a car accident back in Cameroon, further undermining Embiid’s mental state.
In October 2016, Embiid made his debut in a preseason game against the Boston Celtics. Although the 76ers barely squeaked out the win, their new center made his mark, scoring 6 points and recording 4 rebounds and 2 blocks in his thirteen minutes of action. Twenty-two days later, the 76ers lost their season opener against the Oklahoma City Thunder, 103–97. In twenty-five minutes of play, Embiid scored 20 points, and made 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Although Embiid had emerged as a top young talent, in January 2017, he was placed on the inactive list for the remainder of the season following knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Even still, Embiid was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team for the 2016–17 season. The 76ers ended up finishing 14th in the Eastern Conference.
October 2017 saw Embiid signing a five-year contract extension with the 76ers worth $148 million. He helped the team clinch their first 50-win season since 2000–01, closing the 2017–18 season on a 16-game winning streak. In January 2018, Embiid was selected as a starter for the All-Star Game. He sustained yet another injury when the orbital socket of his left eye was fractured during a March game against the New York Knicks. Embiid’s return to the operating room meant that he missed the first two games of the team’s first-round playoff series. On April 19, Embiid made his playoff debut in Game 3 against the Miami Heat. Although he scored 23 points to help the 76ers advance, the team lost in the Conference Semifinals to the Boston Celtics in Game 5.
Embiid’s stats in the 2018–19 season were more than impressive. The big man finished the season averaging 27.5 points per game (PPG) and 13.6 rebounds per game (RPG). Embiid also recorded an average of 1.9 blocks per game, putting him in the same league as all-time great blockers Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. However, in the postseason, Embiid battled knee pain due to tendonitis and a flu-like illness that caused him to miss twelve games after the February All-Star break and hampered his performance during the playoffs.
In an effort to increase his stamina on the court, Embiid worked to lose weight in the off-season, dropping twenty pounds. While he continued to put up record numbers, the 2019–20 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the NBA resumed play in December 2020, Embiid was ready to go. In a February win over the Chicago Bulls, Embiid dropped a career-high 50 points in 35 minutes of play. Then on March 12, 2021, his momentum ground to a halt when he landed awkwardly, suffering a deep bone bruise in his left knee. Embiid was forced to miss ten games, which caused him to lose his lead in the race for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), an award he had been favored to win prior to the injury.
In the 2021 off-season, Embiid signed a contract extension with the 76ers worth an estimated $196 million over four years. During the 2021–2022 season, an extremely strong performance from Embiid earned him the title of NBA scoring champion for the regular season—the first center to earn the title since Shaquille O'Neal in 2000. Additionally, Embiid's average of 30.6 points per game in the 2021–22 regular season was the first time a center had a per-game average of over 30 points in forty years. After an extremely strong performance in the first two games of the first round of the 2022 NBA playoffs, Embiid injured his hand in Game 3 which led to limited effectiveness in the remainder of the series. Despite this, the 76ers advanced to the second round to play the Miami Heat. However, the 76ers soon announced that Embiid sustained both a concussion and a fracture of his right orbital in Game 6 and that he would miss the rest of the postseason. The 76ers then lost to the Heat after extending the series to six games. In May 2022, Embiid had surgery performed on his injured hand.
The 2022–23 season saw immense success for Embiid. He led the 76ers to victory in a close 118–112 game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on February 15, 2023, during which he earned his ten-thousandth career point. Having reached the mark in just 373 games, Embiid became the fastest player in 76ers franchise history to achieve 10,000 career points. In April 2023, Embiid reigned as the NBA's scoring champion for a second consecutive season. He led the NBA with an average of 33.1 points scored per game, a feat that also became his career-high average up to that point. He finished the regular season with averages of 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1 steal, and 1.7 blocks per game. In May 2023, Embiid earned his first NBA MVP title.
Embiid continued to perform well during the 2023–24 season. In January 2024, Embiid became only the third player in league history to score 30 or more points in at least twenty consecutive games. Just days later, in a game against the San Antonio Spurs, Embiid broke the 76ers' record for the highest points scored in a single game, with 70 points scored. Wilt Chamberlain previously held the franchise record for over fifty years with 68 points scored in a 1967 game. The feat also marked Embiid as the ninth player in NBA history to reach 70 points in a single game. On January 30, 2024, in a game against the Golden State Warriors, Embiid sustained an injury to his lateral meniscus in his left knee, which forced him to miss several games. He had surgery to correct the injury in February of that year. Embiid returned on April 2, 2024, when he scored 24 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals in a victorious 109–105 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He finished the regular season with averages of 11 rebounds, 1.7 blocks, 1.2 steals, 34.7 points, and 5.6 assists per game, the latter three of which were the highest averages of his career up to that point.
Impact
In 2021, author Kirk Goldsberry claimed that Embiid’s skills made him one of the most complete superstars in NBA history. Even before Embiid made his 2016 debut, sportswriters were comparing him to Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon. Embiid displayed nimble footwork and a delicate touch when shooting. Although the fan favorite suffered setbacks in the form of multiple injuries during his first years with the NBA, Embiid remained driven to improve his game and achieve consistency on the court.
Personal Life
In September 2020, Embiid announced the birth of his first child with his partner, model Anne de Paula. The couple named their son Arthur Elijah in honor of Embiid’s younger brother, who died in a car crash in Cameroon just months after Embiid was drafted into the NBA. Embiid and de Paula married in July 2023.
Bibliography
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Associated Press. "76ers Center Joel Embiid Wins 2022-23 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Award." NBA.com, 2 May 2023, www.nba.com/news/2022-23-kia-nba-most-valuable-player-award. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
Bontemps, Tim. “Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid Drops Career-High 50 in Win vs. Chicago Bulls.” ESPN, 19 Feb. 2021, www.espn.in/nba/story/‗/id/30931996/philadelphia-76ers-joel-embiid-drops-career-high-50-win-vs-chicago-bulls. Accessed 18 May 2021.
Fernandez, Gabriel. “Joel Embiid Has First Child with Partner, Model Anne De Paula, Says ‘I’m Just Trying to Build a Soccer Team.’” CBS Sports, 24 Sept. 2020, www.cbssports.com/nba/news/joel-embiid-has-first-child-with-partner-model-anne-de-paula-says-im-just-trying-to-build-a-soccer-team/. Accessed 18 May 2021.
Grasso, Justin. “Where Does Joel Embiid Rank among No. 3 Overall Picks in NBA History?” Sports Illustrated, 16 June 2020, www.si.com/nba/76ers/news/joel-embiid-rank-no-3-overall-picks-nba-history. Accessed 18 May 2021.
Martin, Brian. “Scoring Title Tracker: Joel Embiid Becomes 1st Center Since Shaquille O'Neal to Win Honors.” NBA.com, 11 Apr. 2022, www.nba.com/news/scoring-title-tracker-historically-close-chase. Accessed 7 Sept. 2022.
Powell, Shaun. “Hoops Journey of Philadelphia 76ers Phenom Joel Embiid a Storybook-Like ‘Process.’” NBA, 18 Oct. 2017, www.nba.com/news/joel-embiid-goes-volleyball-star-budding-presence-philadelphia-76ers. Accessed 18 May 2021.
Shelburne, Ramona. “Joel Embiid Means Business.” ESPN, 13 May 2021, www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/‗/page/CoverStory-May2021/joel-embiid-means-business. Accessed 18 May 2021.
Small, Tyler. "How Historic Was Joel Embiid’s 70-Point Game?" Forbes, 30 Jan. 2024, www.forbes.com/sites/tylersmall/2024/01/30/how-historic-was-joel-embiids-70-point-game/?sh=6a70e6a03f2b. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
Weitzman, Yaron. “Excerpt: Joel Embiid’s Journey from Africa to America.” Slam, 23 Mar. 2020, www.slamonline.com/nba/book-excerpt-joel-embiid/. Accessed 18 May 2021.