30 Inspiring Facts About Joel Embiid You Probably Didn’t Know

Joel Embiid, one of the biggest big names in the NBA for the past few seasons, was more like a myth in the initial days of his career, battling so many injuries that had him miss nearly two seasons. Still, this optimistic, resilient star, despite so many difficulties, became one of the fastest rising stars in NBA’s history. Here are some really interesting facts about the player that will make you love him more:

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1.  During the 2017 – 2018 season game against Los Angeles Lakers on November 15, 2017, he scored a career-high 46 points, which was the most scored by a Philadelphia player in 11 years.
2.  He grabbed 15 rebounds, with seven assists and seven blocked shots, along with his 46 points, with which he became the first NBA player to post such numbers since Julius Erving against the Pistons in 1982.
3.  In March 2021, he donated $100,000, his 2021 NBA All-Star Game winnings, to various homeless shelter organizations in Philadelphia.
4.  Following his donation, his team Philadelphia 76ers also donated $100,000 to the same organizations that he donated too.
5.  He went scoreless in a NBA game for the first time in his career in the 101-96 loss to the Toronto Raptors on November 25, 2019, in which he had the game-high 13 rebounds.
6.  Joel Hans Embiid was born on March 16, 1994 to Thomas Embiid and Christine in Yaoundé, Cameroon. His father was a military officer, who was also into sports and played handball.
7.  He had a younger brother named Arthur, who died in a car crash on October 16, 2014. He has a younger sister Muriel Embiid.
8.  In his childhood, he had aspired to play professional volleyball in Europe, having played volleyball and soccer since young age.
9.  At the age of 15, he first started playing basketball, modeling his game after NBA Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon, nicknamed “The Dream.”
10.  Fellow native of Yaounde – Luc Mbah a Moute, an NBA player, first discovered Embiid at a basketball camp and started mentoring him.

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11.  Following this, Embiid moved to United States, when he was just 16 years old, and decided to become a professional basketball player.
12.  He first enrolled at Montverde Academy, which is Mbah a Moute’s alma mater, but due to lack of playing time in his first year, he later transferred to another institution.
13.  He transferred to The Rock School, a Christian academy in Gainsville, Florida, where in his senior year, he led the school’s team to a 33–4 record and state championship, averaging 13.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.
14.  He attended the University of Kansas for one year, during which he played for the Kansas Jayhawks for the 2013–14 season.
15.  He played a total of 28 games, averaging 8.1 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 1.4 assists, and 11.2 points in 23.1 minutes per game. On 13 February 2014, he was named one of the 30 finalists for the Naismith College Player of the Year.
16.  In the season, he earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors and was named second-team All-Big 12. Still, he was not able to play in the Big 12 tournament and had to miss the NCAA Tournament as well, due to an injury – a stress fracture in his back.
17.  He declared for the 2014 NBA draft on April 9, 2014, forgoing his final three years of college eligibility. He was picked third overall by Philadelphia 76ers on June 26, 2014.
18.  With this, he became the third Cameroonian-born NBA player after Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje and Luc Mbah a Moute, as well as the highest selected player from Cameroon.
19.  However, at that time, he was ruled out for a period of four to six months, as he had to undergo a surgery on a broken navicular bone in his right foot.
20.  Despite signing his rookie contract with the 76ers on August 26, 2014, he had to miss the entire 2014-2015 season, due to the broken navicular bone in his foot.

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21.  Following a setback in his recovery, he missed the entire 2015-16 season as well, as he underwent a second round of surgery on August 18, 2015.
22.  His first preseason game for the 76ers was against Boston Celtics on October 6, 2016, in which he recorded six points, four rebounds and two blocks in 13 minutes.
23.  He faced another injury – a torn meniscus in his left knee, that initially did not require any surgery, but with the bone bruise appearing more pronounced, he had to undergo minor arthroscopic surgery.
24.  Despite playing only through half of the 2016 – 2017 season, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team at the end of the season.
25.  His 30 points and 19 rebounds in a 123–108 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on October 24, 2018, made him the first player in the franchise history to have reach those marks in the same game since Charles Barkley, who scored it in November 1991.
26.  Since the year 2018, he has been in a relationship with Brazilian model Anne de Paula. The couple welcomed their first child – a son named Arthur Elijah De Paula Embiid in September 2020.
27.  Always known for his jokes and trolling, he captioned the tweet about the birth of his son saying he would like to have 11 more children, but, he has been losing that battle.
28.  In the 2018-19 season, he joined Wilt Chamberlain, one of the greatest basketball players in history, as the only other big man in team history with multiple triple-doubles in the same season.
29.  He scored 29 points in a 118–110 win over the New York Knicks on March 15, 2018, becoming the first Sixers player to notch 40 20-point performances in a season since Andre Iguodala in the 2007–08 season.
30.  Embiid recorded a double-double with a career-high 50 points and 17 rebounds during the 112-105 victory against the Chicago Bulls on February 20, 2021.
31.  Joel Embiid Net Worth: $35 Million