Embiid, NBA MVP, admits he would have preferred to be a footballer

While the world of football has its eyes fixed on the CAN in Ivory Coast, where the favorites have almost all already fallen, Joël Embiid, Cameroonian of origin and reigning NBA MVP, affirmed that he would have liked being a footballer even before being a basketball player. If he has never hidden being a big fan of football, this statement remains surprising. It joins that of another recent MVP: Nikola Jokic.

While he had just won his first NBA championship title, the double MVP Nikola Jokic stated a few months ago that “ no one likes their job » in the league. Today, Joel Embiid almost seems to echo the words of his Serbian counterpart. Indeed, the native of Yaoundé, Cameroon, closely follows the African Cup of Nations, where his country of origin is still in the running. Before showing his love for football, the Philadelphia 76ers center laughed at X: “ Man What a game!! Great Win ???????????????????????? ».

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“In basketball, if you have two good players…”

First supporter of Indomitable Lionsdespite his recent American naturalization, Embiid would have loved to be a football player, as he recently confided in the podcast Men In Blazers : « I would rather be a football player than a basketball player. It shows how much I love this sport. I find that there is nothing that comes close to this sport in terms of notoriety in the world, nothing. I also like the concept of collective. In basketball, if you have two good players, you can win, whereas in football, the team must be really united to go far. »

Embiid in the tough

Would he really be ready to swap his life as a basketball player for that of a footballer? Nothing is less sure. On the other hand, currently, Joel Embiid is going through bad times. If he has been averaging more than 35 points per game since the start of the season, the 76ers pivot is suffering from a nasty injury which both prevents his franchise from stringing together victories and which blocks him in the race for MVP of which he is the favorite. If he misses five more matches, the native of Yaoundé will no longer be able to claim the trophy, according to the new rules put in place by the NBA.