Joel Embiid confided at length to the New York Timesahead of the Olympic Games. The opportunity to reveal that Emmanuel Macron contacted him directly to try to convince him to play for the French team.
It's also an opportunity to explain that he always aims for the highest goal, and that, without the injuries, he could quite easily be in the conversation for the title of best player in the history of basketball (“GOAT”).
“I think I'm at that level in terms of talent” he explains thus. “Obviously you have to win titles, but to win titles you have to have other guys. You can’t do it alone. And I want to win so bad. If you don’t, you have to understand that as long as you’re worrying about the right things, then maybe if it doesn’t happen, it wasn’t meant to happen…”
“The system is in place, everyone is doing their job, you're about to accomplish a lot of good things and then someone falls on your knee.”
But for Joel Embiid, the only thing stopping him from truly ruling the game of basketball is injuries.
“If you think about it, what's stopped me all these years is just freak injuries. Every playoff game, every regular season, guys have fallen on my knee or broken something in my face. Twice. It's always freak injuries at the wrong time.”
And the one from last season, when Jonathan Kuminga fell on his knee, particularly affected him.
“There’s only one injury that’s… It was last year, where mentally and physically it was tough. But for all the other injuries, I always wondered what the hell I was supposed to do. That’s life, you know? And then this year, you’re playing the best basketball of your career, and it just gets so easy. Every night. You’re winning games and you’re scoring 40, 50, 60 points. You finally figured it out. You have an answer for everything that’s coming at you on the court. If you’re caught in a double or a triple, you know where to go. The system’s set up, everybody’s doing their job, you’re about to do a lot of good things and then somebody falls on your knee. I don’t know why it was so tough, but it was. It was mentally depressing, and physically depressing when your body’s not responding the way it’s supposed to.”
| Joel Embiid | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Party | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 2016-17 | PHL | 31 | 25 | 46.6 | 36.7 | 78.3 | 2.0 | 5.9 | 7.8 | 2.1 | 3.6 | 0.9 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 20.2 |
| 2017-18 | PHL | 63 | 30 | 48.3 | 30.8 | 76.9 | 2.3 | 8.7 | 11.0 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 0.6 | 3.7 | 1.8 | 22.9 |
| 2018-19 | PHL | 64 | 34 | 48.4 | 30.0 | 80.4 | 2.5 | 11.1 | 13.6 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 0.7 | 3.5 | 1.9 | 27.5 |
| 2019-20 | PHL | 51 | 30 | 47.7 | 33.1 | 80.7 | 2.8 | 8.9 | 11.6 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 23.0 |
| 2020-21 | PHL | 51 | 31 | 51.3 | 37.7 | 85.9 | 2.2 | 8.4 | 10.6 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 28.5 |
| 2021-22 | PHL | 68 | 34 | 49.9 | 37.1 | 81.4 | 2.2 | 9.6 | 11.7 | 4.2 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 30.6 |
| 2022-23 ★ | PHL | 66 | 35 | 54.8 | 33.0 | 85.7 | 1.7 | 8.4 | 10.2 | 4.2 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 3.4 | 1.7 | 33.1 |
| 2023-24 | PHL | 39 | 34 | 52.9 | 38.8 | 88.3 | 2.4 | 8.6 | 11.0 | 5.6 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 3.9 | 1.7 | 34.7 |
| Total | 433 | 32 | 50.4 | 34.1 | 82.6 | 2.2 | 8.9 | 11.2 | 3.6 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 3.4 | 1.7 | 27.9 | |
How to read the stats? GM = Games Played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots Made / Shots Attempted; 3pts = 3-pointers / 3-pointers Attempted; LF = Free Throws Made / Free Throws Attempted; Off = Offensive Rebound; Def = Defensive Rebound; Tot = Total Rebounds; Pd = Assists; Fte: Personal Fouls; Int = Steals; Bp = Loose Balls; Ct: Blocks; Pts = Points.
