"I really wanted to stop playing basketball and retire" - Joel Embiid looks back on his torrid first year in the NBA after surgery
Joel Embiid has come a long way since his first few injury-riddled years in the NBA. The 27-year-old sat out the first two seasons after being selected as the third overall pick in the 2014 Draft. He also had to miss a substantial portion of the 2016-17 NBA campaign, as a meniscus tear in his left knee forced him to undergo surgery.
The meniscus tear came on the back of foot injuries in his first two seasons. This, coupled with the death of his younger brother at the time, made him consider retiring from the game of basketball. The Philadelphia 76ers star lost his sibling Arthur in a car crash in Cameroon in October 2014.
Embiid told the media after the 71st All-Star game how hard those initial years were in the NBA. He said:
"You look back at my first year, after the surgery, obviously I lost my brother at that time, too. Going back to Cameroon, I really wanted to stop playing basketball and really retire because at that point, you just had surgery and everybody is talking about, 'You not going to make it. You never going to play in the league.' Obviously, the loss of my brother was big. I wanted to give up. I almost did."
Embiid was out after surgery for a stress fracture in his foot when the Sixers drafted him in 2014.
He never gave up, and now he's staring down that MVP trophy 🙏 https://t.co/QV3sqecASF
He added:
"It was hard. And then in the second year, you got to get another surgery. Basically, you missed two years in a row. All these stories coming out every single day, 'Oh Joel is 300 pounds.' The media always talking down on you. It was tough. I had to go through a lot. But I'm glad I just kept pushing through with the help of everybody around me. I'm happy to be here."
Joel Embiid is the frontrunner in the 2021-22 MVP race
There is no denying that Joel Embiid has put the disappointing events of his past behind him. He is leading the league in scoring this season while putting up a career-best 29.6 ppg before the All-Star break.
Embiid has never won the scoring title in his six-year NBA career.
It is Joel Embiid's dominant play that currently has the Philadelphia 76ers in the third position in the Eastern Conference standings.
Embiid is also averaging 11.2 rpg and a career-best 4.5 apg while shooting 36.9% from deep for the 2021-22 season. He earned his fifth All-Star selection on the strength of these numbers, which have also put him in pole position in the MVP race.