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Joel Embiid Was Making Eyes at Paul George on the NBA Finals Broadcast, Now They're Teammates

Kyle Koster

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Joel Embiid swung by the NBA Countdown set before Game 4 of the NBA Finals a few weeks ago. The series was already 3-0 in the Boston Celtics' favor at that point and few thought the eventual outcome was in any doubt (which it wasn't). So it was time for the Sixers' big man to talk about the future of his ballclub, which has been processing for quite some time now without much tangible postseason success to show for those efforts.

Embiid, seated mere feet away from fellow All-Star Paul George on the panel, drew out some eyeball emojis for making eyes at a piece that would really help the Sixers get where they want to go.

This is the exact type of behavior that causes people to say "this league" with a straight face before moving on to something else. But it's newly relevant this morning as George and Philadelphia have agreed to a four-year max contract. Embiid knew exactly what he was doing because he cracked a smile. Of course, there's no way to know how much he knew about what his front office was doing. What's really important here is that he made television.

Now he, George, and a newly extended Tyrese Maxey will have to make good on some overdue expectations.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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