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Thanks to his strong play throughout the season, Philadelphia 76ers superstar Joel Embiid has emerged as the top candidate for this year's Most Valuable Player title. On Sunday, the Sixers big man came out with a highly-impressive 36-point performance during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game as he further established his claim for the MVP award.
Right now, it's virtually impossible to imagine Embiid doing anything else other than playing basketball. This is simply what he was meant to do. As it turns out, however, there was one point in his career where the 7-foot big man thought he was done. This was during an extremely rough stretch in both Embiid's personal and professional life. At that point in time, he seriously considered turning his back on the game:
“You look back at my first year after the surgery,” Embiid said, via Justin Grasso of FanNation. “Obviously, I lost my brother at that time, too. Going back to Cameroon, I really wanted to stop playing basketball and really retire because at that point you just had surgery, and everybody is talking about you're not going to make it, or you're never going to play in the league, and, obviously, the loss of my brother was big. I wanted to give up. I almost did.”
In October of 2014, Embiid's younger brother, Arthur, died in a tragic car crash in their home country of Cameroon. It clearly had a significant impact on Joel and it drove him to a point where he wanted to just end his professional career. Embiid had a close relationship with his brother growing up and it goes without saying that losing a sibling is one of the most heartbreaking experiences anyone can ever go through.
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This happened during Embiid's first season in the NBA. After being selected as the third overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Embiid missed his first two seasons due to a major foot injury. As he described above, he underwent surgery to address the issue, but at that point, critics were already questioning whether or not he would ever be able to meet the loft expectations many had on him. At the tender age of 20 and without having played a single minute of NBA basketball, there were already question marks about his future in the league. Needless to say, Joel's confidence was at an all-time low.
It was obviously a very traumatic experience for the Sixers star and it required every ounce of his fortitude for him to pull through. It wasn't easy but somehow, Embiid was able to muster up the strength to fight through it all.
“I had to go through a lot,” Embiid continued. “It was very tough, but I'm glad I just kept pushing through with the help of everybody around me, but I'm just glad. I'm happy to be here.”
This clearly serves as a testament to Joel Embiid's character. The easier choice would have been to give up. This was not the case for him, though. The Sixers big man was able to overcome the toughest of adversities and is now one of the best players in the league. As fans of the game, we're just glad that Embiid didn't surrender. Otherwise, we would have missed out on witnessing the career of one of the most outstanding big men this sport has ever seen.
