Joel Embiid has been the franchise cornerstone for the Philadelphia 76ers since he was drafted, performing at an MVP level the last few seasons. The center is everything to Philly fans and he has, in turn, embraced the city wholeheartedly. Considering everything that happened with the Ben Simmons saga, it’s no surprise that Joel Embiid was in the thick of it, apparently causing some of the issues and also trying to fix whatever was wrong.
However, it didn’t work and the Sixers managed to get rid of Ben Simmons in a deal that saw them gain James Harden. Embiid, who had refrained from saying too much about the Simmons situation while he was still a part of the franchise, shared a popular meme after the trade was announced. The meme caught the eye of fans and media alike, and Embiid has now offered a tongue-in-cheek explanation for it in a recent press conference.
"I just saw the picture on the Internet. I thought he was well dressed …" 😂 https://t.co/ggWOEJsTIU pic.twitter.com/pKVboF43Hl
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 12, 2022
Reporter: “How long have you had that tweet ready?”
Joel Embiid: “Uhhh, honestly I don’t even know what the tweet was about, I just tweeted you know, a random person… Yeah, I mean, I just saw a picture on the internet, I thought he was well dressed. He had a nice suit on, good looking. So I just thought it was a good picture.”
The context for this meme originally is the man in the photo stopping by for the funeral of his ‘biggest hater’. The way Embiid answered and the laughs it generated from others suggest that the Sixers man knew exactly what he was doing when he shared it on social media.
Ben Simmons is now on the Brooklyn Nets though, and Embiid has another superstar next to him in Harden that can help him reach the title they are both hungry for. With Nets set to face the Sixers in Philly next month, it’ll surely become more evident with time how much of an issue, if at all there is one, Embiid has with Simmons for the way he has behaved to get a move out of the franchise.
