Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid will join LeBron James and Anthony Davis as another notable superstar to turn down a social justice statement on the back of his jersey, according to Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
All players taking the stage for the restart of the 2019-20 season in Orlando have been given the opportunity to don a social justice statement on the back of their jerseys. James and Davis chose to keep their last names as usual over the weekend, and it seems the Sixers superstar has as well.
According to information from the National Basketball Players Association as of this past Wednesday, 285 out of the 350 players have chosen to have some sort of social justice statement and 17 have opted out. It's not clear if Embiid, James, or Davis fall within those 17 opt-outs or the 48 who were unknown at that time.
Some NBA players were not content with the list of messages given as options by the league, wanting more freedom of expression. Embiid's own teammate, Mike Scott, was among the aforementioned.
Davis offered that wearing his last name was a matter of family pride, so he had different reasons to decline.
Embiid has supported the African community back in his native Cameroon as well as African Americans in Philadelphia. He has also made numerous donations during difficult times due to the pandemic, offering to pay the remainder of Sixers staffers' salaries as the team initially looked to do some slashing during the early days of the NBA hiatus.
Embiid has been proactive with his actions, which means a lot more than a message on his jersey. Regardless of what's on the back of his jersey, the Sixers center will be hoping to dominate on the court and help his team make a deep playoff run.
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