Joel Embiid · Biography

Joel Embiid made his NBA debut on October 26, 2016, against the Oklahoma City Thunder, scoring 20 points with 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in 25 minutes in a 103-97 loss for the Philadelphia 76ers. That game came two years after Philadelphia drafted him, following two full seasons lost to foot injuries. Joel Hans Embiid was born on March 16, 1994, in Yaoundé, Cameroon. A center, he has been with the 76ers since 2014. He was MVP of the 2022-23 season and holds Cameroonian, French and American citizenship.

From Yaoundé to Florida

As a boy he played volleyball and soccer. He didn't take up basketball until he was 15, and he learned the game by studying Hakeem Olajuwon. Luc Mbah a Moute, a Cameroonian forward in the NBA, spotted him at a camp in Cameroon and became his mentor. Embiid moved to the United States at 16. He started at Montverde Academy, but he played little there and after a year he transferred to The Rock School in Gainesville, Florida. As a senior he averaged 13.0 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks, and the team went 33-4 and won the state title.

One season at Kansas

He spent the 2013-14 season at the University of Kansas. In 28 games, 20 of them starts, he averaged 11.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 2.6 blocks. He was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and made the second-team All-Big 12, the All-Defensive team and the All-Newcomer team. A stress fracture in his back in March 2014 kept him out of the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments. In April of that year he declared for the draft.

The draft and two lost seasons

In June 2014 he had surgery on a broken navicular bone in his right foot. The 76ers still took him third overall in the 2014 NBA draft. He missed the whole 2014-15 season, and a second operation on the same foot in August 2015 wiped out 2015-16 as well. Those years overlapped with the rebuild known as “The Process,” a name Embiid took as his own nickname. In his first season on the court he played 31 games and made the All-Rookie First Team. A torn meniscus in his left knee ended that season, and he had arthroscopic surgery on March 24, 2017.

The All-Star years and the MVP

He was an All-Star seven years running, from 2018 to 2024, and started in the first of those games. He made the All-NBA Second Team in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022, and the All-Defensive Second Team in 2018, 2019 and 2021. In 2021 he finished second in the MVP voting. He won the scoring title in 2022 with 30.6 points per game and again in 2023 with 33.1. On May 2, 2023, he was announced as MVP of the 2022-23 season, and he made the All-NBA First Team that year. On January 22, 2024, he scored 70 points, with 18 rebounds and 5 assists, in a 133-123 win over the San Antonio Spurs.

Olympic gold with the United States

He became a French citizen in July 2022 and an American citizen in September of that year. He chose to play for the United States and won the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, averaging 11.2 points and 3.8 rebounds over five games.

Knee trouble, a suspension and Game 7 in Boston

Knee problems kept him out at the start of the 2024-25 season. In November 2024 he shoved a reporter in the locker room and the league suspended him for three games. He returned on February 4, 2025, after missing 15 games, but on February 28 the team ruled him out for the rest of the season with soreness in his left knee, which was operated on on April 11, 2025. He started 2025-26 under a minutes restriction. On January 22, 2026, he posted a triple-double of 32 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, and on January 31 he scored 40. He had emergency appendix surgery on April 9, 2026, and came back for the playoffs on April 26. On May 2, 2026, in Game 7 of the first round in Boston, he had 34 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists in a 109-100 win over the Celtics. Philadelphia came back from 3-1 down in the series, then was swept 4-0 by the New York Knicks in the second round.