So Joel Embiid is on the first-ever digital cover of GQ Magazine. If you have the time to read it, I highly recommend it, as it’s very entertaining. As you might expect with Joel, there were several great quotes sprinkled in throughout the feature. Here are the best quotes from the article:
The smell of chicken in Joel Embiid’s apartment is overwhelming—less someone-cooked-chicken-earlier and more someone-is-running-a-small-Wingstop. Unsurprisingly, there on the top of his marbled counter rest two plates of chicken wings. There are also three plates of cajun pasta and a plate each of Brazilian cookies—”they’re trash,” Embiid says upon trying one—croissants, apples, and clementines hovering nearby, not to mention the beef skewers, crepes, and the rest of the leftovers I barely make out in a brief glimpse into the fridge.
The article talks a lot about Embiid’s eating habits: it touches on his love of Shirley Temples (“Embiid used to drink one (a single Shirley Temple, not a pitcher’s worth) almost every day but has since cut back to merely “once in a while,” he tells me while grabbing a bottled water from the fridge, as if to prove his point”), Bill Self calls him “the least mature eater he’s ever seen,” and it talks here about the sheer volume of food in Embiid’s apartment. I’m sure a 7’2″ athlete eats more than your average person, but good God, JoJo must do nothing but eat, play FIFA, and play basketball.
Embiid admits that dating while in the NBA is not without its challenges. “You gotta do your background check,” he says. “You don’t want to be that guy marrying a girl that someone else in the NBA has been with…. I’m sure some guys end up getting married to women that have been around. And maybe on the court they also get told”—here he lowers his voice to a whisper—”Hey, I fucked your wife.”
Embiid has emerged as one of the league’s premier shit-talkers during his time in the NBA, both online and on the hardwood (A quote from this article: “I love when people talk trash…. I love when people tell me that I was gonna be a bust,” he says. “I enjoy when people tell me, you suck, you can’t dribble, you can’t shoot, because it’s like: gotta go to the gym.”). When it comes to his dating life, he knows he can’t be anyone’s second choice- he’s already clowned on too many people to make things that easy for his on-court and online opponents.
“[In] Cameroon, we don’t know shit about space. I don’t even know if there’s a Cameroonian astronaut. That’s what I wanted to become. I wanted to become president, and I wanted to become an astronaut. Because I was really good at math.”
The article talks a good deal about Embiid’s life in his native Cameroon. It opens up with the mention of his tall tale about needing to kill a lion to gain acceptance into his tribe, and goes on to talk about his childhood and how he came to play basketball. This is his standout quote about his time in Cameroon, complete with that trademark Embiid candor.
“I’m so much better than I was last year,” he says. “I just look at myself, like the only thing that can stop me is like…”—and here he pauses to think of something that can stop him—“nothing. That’s why I’m excited.”
GOLDEN STATE AND BOSTON ARE SHAKING IN THEIR BOOTS!!! HAND US THE LARRY O’BRIEN ALREADY!!!!!
Seriously though, Embiid has likely played less than 200 games of organized basketball in his life. The fact that he’s already at an All-NBA level and he still has so much room to grow is a crazy thought. I’m very excited for what he and the Sixers have in store for this season.
*Embiid voice* Trust The Process!
ReJoyce 