Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid is finally able to enjoy being an NBA rookie this season after being off for two seasons.
He spent the last two seasons recovering from surgery and has finally moved beyond the rehab.
Now the big man is in the swing of the 2016-17 season and is looking like a Rookie of the Year candidate in limited minutes.
He recently joined Adrian Wojnarowski on The Vertical Podcast to discuss a few topics such as life, basketball, and the election.
One interesting subject mentioned by Embiid is how he felt American people are a bit out of touch with what's going on in other countries.
“Since I've been here, I feel Americans, they don't really have any idea of what's going on in the world, especially us Africans.
“When they think about Africans, they think about, you know, just us running around with lions and tigers, and all those other animals. So, when I got to Kansas, I kind of used that to my advantage, talking about how I killed a lion.”
Even if that's an odd icebreaker for anyone to claim, it has worked for Embiid in some capacity or another.
Killing lions isn't necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a basketball player, especially someone with Embiid's sense of humor.
He insists that he gets people's attention telling the tale, and surprisingly people believe him.
That's how I became a man, because at 6 years old, I had to go in a jungle and kill a lion, and carried it on my back to bring back to my village just to show that I'm a man.
And they bought into it. It might be true or it might be false. I don't know. But that's the perception Americans have on Africans.
Many times Embiid shares his thoughts on social media, but he usually doesn't take himself too seriously.
The story of the lion cannot be verified by anyone, and Embiid leaves you to wonder if it's true or not.
“The story might be true or it might be false, nobody would ever know. But if anybody tries me, they're gonna find out.”
Do you believe his story?
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