Count Portland Trail Blazers big man Jusuf Nurkic on the growing list of players who don’t have too many complimentary things to say about the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid.
After Nurkic and the Blazers came back from 18 points down in the second half to beat the Sixers, he called out Embiid’s toughness and stamina, per Andrew Porter of CBS Philly.
Article Continues Below“I respect him. He’s a good player. He’s not about tough. He’s a skill player, who is getting tired it looks like. When you play defense on him and play offense on him and attack him, he gets tired more.”
Embiid hasn’t earned too many friends during his time in the league in large part due to his hyperactive mouth and his overactive presence on social media. While there are kernels of legitimate criticism about Embiid's game in Nurkic's comments, Embiid's grating persona may have also played a factor in why Nurkic said what he said, particularly when he questioned Embiid's toughness.
However, those are the types of barbs Embiid has thrown out when he's gotten the better of other players. It's in Embiid's nature to troll his opponents, and it only follows that once in a while some of them will troll back, especially when they get the better of him.