Sep 28, 2024, 09:14 AM ET
PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid could go back to school and write a pretty heady report on how he spent his summer vacation.
Embiid won Olympic gold for Team USA. He signed a contract extension with Philadelphia that will pay him more than $64 million in its final season. Embiid spoke at the U.N. General Assembly about African innovation. Already parents to a young son, Embiid and his wife are expecting a daughter.
Oh, and his lobbying efforts for the Sixers to sign All-Star free agent Paul George paid off with perhaps the most significant acquisition in Embiid’s 10 seasons with the franchise.
Not a bad offseason.
For his final move before training camp opens next week, Embiid celebrated a watershed moment more personal in nature.
The seven-time NBA All-Star hosted the “In Memory of Arthur” block party to honor the life of his late brother in a Friday night event for Philadelphia Youth Basketball.
Embiid’s younger brother, Arthur Embiid, died in a car accident in 2014 at age 13. Joel Embiid later named his son Arthur in his brother’s memory. At the Sixth Man Center, the 76ers and PYB unveiled a 70-by-10 foot mural that overlooked the “In Memory of Arthur” Court, which was dedicated to Embiid and his family when the complex opened earlier this year.
“It’s still tough, thinking about the whole thing,” Embiid, who was born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, said of his brother. “He’s also one of the reasons why I’m doing this. He was someone that cared about everybody. It’s funny, all the stories that I heard, because I hadn’t been around since I left Cameroon. Going back after his death, all the stories that I heard. Just someone I cared about, that was always giving back.”
Embiid and his son shot hoops at bounce houses and on the court at a Friday night event attended by George, All-Star Tyrese Maxey, other Sixers teammates and team president Daryl Morey.
“He’s somebody who took me in from day one,” Maxey said. “Joel, he was the first person who believed in me. He believes in all of y’all. He believes in all of Philly. We just really have to appreciate him. We just have to really cherish him.”
Maxey then asked nearly 200 kids — most of them in Embiid gear — to stand and give the 7-footer a standing ovation.
Embiid, who signed a $193 million extension with a player option for the 2028-29 season, appreciated the gesture.
“Growing up, having been around a struggle, that’s always been a goal of mine, to have some sort of impact,” Embiid said.
Embiid has donated millions over his career to Philly community efforts. Among his charitable endeavors, he’s donated All-Star Game winnings to area homeless shelters, partnered with a grocery chain to help families with rent or mortgage relief, and pledged with Sixers ownership in 2020 a combined $1.3 million to Penn Medicine for COVID-19 antibody testing of front-line health care workers.
Embiid put his family name on the party that treated area kids to a variety of basketball and soccer clinics, block-party games, food, and entertainment. Local nonprofit Philadelphia Youth Basketball opened its $36 million Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Center this summer, with a $5 million assist from the longtime prominent season ticket holder.
Hopped up on soft pretzels, kids screamed for George and Maxey as they took the court.
Embiid might have been George’s biggest backer. The 76ers enticed George to leave the LA Clippers and sign a four-year, $212 million contract. George joins a Sixers team that has been a perennial underachiever, even as Embiid blossomed into one of the top players in the NBA. Philadelphia has not won an NBA title since 1983 or even advanced out of the second round of the playoffs since 2001.
“PG, great. I spent a lot of time recruiting Paul, and I’m happy that he’s here,” Embiid said.
Embiid played a key role in helping the U.S. team win gold in the Paris Olympics. He later spoke at U.N. General Assembly week at Prince William’s Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit in New York.
“It was all about Africa,” Embiid said. “I’m one of the guys that has been successful and that is hope. There’s a lot of us. I feel like using that opportunity to go makes sense. We don’t have a lot of opportunities. There’s a lot of me.”
Even without a championship, there’s a lot of Philly that likes Embiid.
“There’s no way, starting at 16, that I was supposed to be here,” Embiid said. “As long as you put the work in, and I guess, trust the process, it’s going to end up paying off.”
