Getty Image
I think if I was forced to pick one professional athlete that I could interview and ask anything it might just be 23-year-old Sixers big man Joel Embiid.
There are very few athletes today who are as smart, frank, funny, really good at their sport, and just flat-out as interesting as Embiid is.
Throw in his background of coming from Cameroon as a kid who just seven years ago knew very little English and you’ve got not only one of the most fascinating athletes in the world, but just people in general.
From his mock feud with Hassan Whiteside to his response to Kevin Durant’s ghost Twitter, Embiid never fails to entertain. Throw in his one-sided love affair with Rihanna and why wouldn’t you want to talk to the guy?
Which is exactly what Clay Skipper at GQ did recently and, as usual, Embiid did not disappoint.
Some highlights…
Okay, so the recent tweet that was mocking KD’s burner accounts, take me through the process of how that came about.
I was actually late to that story and then I came in and I see they’re talking about Kevin Durant, and then I go on Twitter, and I see his name trending. And then I’m like, “What happened?” I’m like, “What happened? Did he get hurt?” I felt bad. Then I looked at it, and I’m like, “Oh, shit. He has a ghost account? This is about to be a field day for me.”I don’t believe that he has a second account. I just thought he was, I don’t know, drunk. Maybe he was playing and calling himself in the third person. I thought it would be fun, and tweeted something about it. But, yeah, it was kind of weird that he has a second account.
I know you’re a big NBA 2K guy. Do you always play as the Sixers?
Sometimes. When I play 2K, I’ll play in GM mode. And I choose different teams. But I always trade for myself because I’m unstoppable. Literally there’s no way to stop me in 2K. I average like 40 and 15, and like 8 assists, and be MVP of the year.So give me an example of the time you’ve with a team and you’ve traded for yourself. Who did you trade?
It takes a lot. I mean even LeBron James is not as valuable as me in 2K.If you’re not playing with the Sixers, who are you playing with? The Cavs?
Nah, they’re too good. I gotta start with a team that sucks, like the Lakers or the Nets. I gotta make it fair. I’m the master of trading, so even with the Nets, they don’t have like high-rated players in the game, but I get someone like me and the number one pick for the next draft.
Of course he trades for himself in NBA 2K18, despite the fact that he thinks he should have been rated a 95.
Naturally, the topic of Rihanna came up as well…
If you could go back and give advice to your sixteen-year-old self, when you first started playing ball, what would you say?
I would say, “Don’t ever talk to Rihanna.”Have you heard from Rihanna recently?
Nah, I met her a few times, but that’s about it.Did she laugh about the tweets?
Yeah, she actually did.So it worked.
It worked, but you know, I got a lot more to worry about. Basketball is more important. But yeah, I would say, “Don’t talk to Rihanna. Don’t tweet at her.”
Awww, don’t give up yet, Joel. Remember…always Trust the Process.
[protected-iframe id=”842372c8e2483c56e59da70335defe31-97886205-92827192″ info=”https://giphy.com/embed/FRIC8vM3QBU7S” width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ class=”giphy-embed” allowfullscreen=””]
Check out the rest of the great interview with Embiid over at GQ.