Joel Embiid is a Cameroonian who initially had the desire of playing volleyball but ended up playing basketball in the NBA league. He began his career playing for the Philadelphia 76ers after he was drafted in the first round of the 2014 NBA draft as the 3rd overall pick. Despite being drafted, the talented baller couldn’t feature in any games till 2017 because of the injuries that beset him.
The basketballer bloomed gradually in his high school winning State Championship and getting rated as a 5-star recruit by several platforms before he made a one-year appearance for his college Basketball team and then joined the NBA.
Joel Embiid Biography
Joel was born as Joel Hans Embiid on the 16th of March, 1994 to Cameroonian parents Thomas and Christine Embiid in Yaounde, Cameroon. His father was a military officer and a former handball player. He has 2 known younger siblings; Arthur who died in a car crash on the 16th of October 2014, and a sister named Muriel.
His love for sports started in his early years and his first professional choice was to play volleyball in a European country. That plan was aborted after he met a native NBA player in a summer camp.
Luc Mbah a Moute became his mentor and took him up to the United States of America where he was groomed into the star he has now become. He started playing basketball in 2008 and participated in an organized basketball game in 2011. Gradually, Joel Embiid patterned his style of play like the NBA Nigerian born star, Hakeem Olajuwon, his favorite player.
Joel attended Montverde Academy, the alma mater high school of his mentor, Luc Mbah a Moute but could not continue with them because of the limited playtime he was getting. He proceeded to a Christian Academy (The Rock School) in Gainesville, Florida to complete his high school education. Yes, he got better play opportunities with the school and made an impressive record of 13.0 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks per game. In addition to that, he led the team in his senior year to a victorious State Championship.
Injury and Career Stats
In November 2012, “The Process”, as he nicknamed himself, officially made known the college he would attend – the University of Kansas. He also signed up to play for their basketball team, The JayHawks. Joel spent just a year with the team but his stats were good enough to earn him a slot in the 30 finalists for the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, and second-team All-Big 12 honor.
Joel had his first set back when he sustained a fracture in his back, in March 2014. It stopped him from participating in the season’s NCAA and Big 12 Tournaments. After he recovered from the injury in April 2014, he announced that he will forgo his remaining years of college basketball and avail himself for the 2014 NBA Draft.
He was eventually drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the third overall pick in the first round of the year’s draft. But he soon had to undergo surgery for a broken navicular bone of the right foot, this kept him away from the game for 6 months. He finally made his NBA debut in the preseason games of October 2016. Embiid thrived as a fine b-baller until the injury bug reared its ugly head again in February 2017. Thankfully, the left knee injury did not require surgery but it saw him off the courts for a while. As though that was not enough, he again sustained a swollen left knee that left him on the bench for the rest of the 2017 season.
With his numerous time off the courts, he still made the NBA All-Rookie First Team of 2017. In October 2017, the 76ers renewed his deal and handed him a 5-year contract worth $148 million. If anything, Joel Embiid has proved that he’s worth the deal. Beyond being honored as one of the NBA All-Star of 2018, he made the NBA All-Defensive Second Team of the year and was as well named to the All-NBA Second Team of the year.
As at the time of this writing, Joel’s professional career boasts of 103 games in which he has been able to attain 22.6 points, 10.1 total rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game.
Who Is His Girlfriend?
Joel Embiid has constituted himself as a social media trash talker, he was once quoted on Twitter to have asked the popular Pop and R&B singer, Robyn Rihanna Fenty out for a date.
Meanwhile, it was rumored in February 2017 that he’s dating the WAG reality star, Olivia Pierson. This was after a picture of the duo on a bed flew around the social media. Joel has also been linked with other beautiful ladies like Jocelyn Chew – the Instagram model. In October 2018, he was spotted alighting from a bus with Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, Anne De Paula. Due to the several women he has been spotted with, it is difficult to tell who his girlfriend is.
How Tall Is Joel Embiid?
The basketballer is 7 feet in height and weighs 113 kg. He has the very perfect height for the game of basketball and is really using it to his advantage in the game.
