The Philadelphia 76ers are currently holding a four-day training camp at the Colorado State University facilities in preparation for what figures to be a big 2023-24 season. Joel Embiid may have to shoulder a heavy offensive load, especially with James Harden's departure being more and more inevitable with each passing day. And there may be no better place for the Sixers star to receive motivation than by training in the territory of Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders, who urged the reigning MVP not to back down from any challenge — particularly against Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic.

After a fruitful training session on Tuesday, Sanders rallied the entire Sixers squad during team dinner. In particular, Coach Prime expressed just how much he craves to see a matchup between Embiid and the reigning Finals MVP, especially when the heavyweight clash between the two best players in the league didn't materialize back in March when The Process decided to sit out.

“It's a little different today. A lot of folks duck that smoke right now. […] If Embiid's playing the Joker, I wanna see Embiid versus the Joker,” Sanders said, via Alec Gwin. “And [Jokic] goes and gets it, right? I love it. I love that matchup. That's what I want to see.”

Deion Sanders, of course, grew up in a different era where load management wasn't en vogue and the cream of the crop relished playing against one another. Back in the day, there were plenty of rivalries across all sports. For Sanders, he won't have a greater rival than Jerry Rice, with the two always looking to get one over the other when they faced off. For basketball, we had Wilt versus Bill, Magic versus Bird, and Jordan against the Pistons as heated rivalries that made watching the NBA such a fulfilling experience.

These days, players tend to be more friendly towards each other. But for Joel Embiid, he has the rare opportunity to build an exciting on-court rivalry with Nikola Jokic; hopefully, as Coach Prime said, the two will be able to face off against each other when the Sixers and Nuggets square off on January 17 and January 28, 2024. Embiid has something to prove as well, especially after his playoff performance lagged behind that of Jokic's, so those should be dates every fan should be circling in their calendars.