All-Star Joel Embiid on James Harden Pairing, National Team Talk
Joel Embiid had a late arrival to Salt Lake City, Utah, this past weekend. Although the Philadelphia 76ers' center tossed around the idea of sitting out of Sunday’s game as foot soreness lingers, Embiid made it to Vivint Arena on time to play in Sunday’s game.
Initially, Embiid wasn’t a starter for the big game. Voted behind Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jayson Tatum, the NBA’s positional voting didn’t do the big man any favors and left him as a reserve.
However, Durant’s absence due to a knee injury gave Embiid a boost into the starting lineup. When captains LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo started picking players from the starters’ pool, Embiid was the first to go off the board as the NBA’s all-time scoring leader picked him up.
Embiid checked into Sunday’s game for 27 minutes. Putting up 19 shots from the field, with eight of them coming from beyond the arc, Embiid shot efficiently as he produced 32 points in the 184-175 loss for Team LeBron.
After the matchup, Embiid addressed the media in attendance at the All-Star Game for the first time all weekend. To no surprise, Embiid fielded questions about the possibility of playing for a National team when the Sixers are in offseason mode.
Again, unsurprisingly, Embiid wouldn’t budge and show his cards.
“I’m focused on the season,” the big man told reporters. “We have a long season ahead, the second half of the season. Once I get there, the main goal is to win. That's where my focus is. Go out and do whatever it takes to try to accomplish that goal to win a championship. So, like I said, that's where I'm focused.”
Embiid is in high demand. After obtaining his French citizenship this past summer, it seemed the big man would inevitably join forces with Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert and others to represent France during the NBA offseason.
But then, Embiid also became a U.S. citizen. As expected, the United States would love to have him on board as well. On several occasions, Embiid’s been asked about which country he wants to represent. It seems he’s still unwilling to say.
Embiid got back on topic, addressing the 2022-2023 NBA season. As he will soon wrap up playing alongside James Harden for a full season for the first time in his career, the star big man feels good about the progress they’ve made this year.
“It's been great. I mean, since last year, you know, we've been growing every single day,” Embiid explained. “Obviously, it's been, what, about a year since we've been playing together? It takes a lot of time to have a connection with somebody, but I feel like from the beginning, we already had that connection. The way we play off of each other, I think obviously you can always get better, but I think we're on the right path.”
Philly’s season started slow. With their chemistry still a work in progress, and injuries taking key players off the floor for chunks of time, the Embiid-Harden pairing didn’t have much time to shine early on. At this point in the year, that’s no longer the case.
As a pairing, Embiid and Harden have been among the league’s best. They are on pace to become the first teammates to have one leading the NBA in points per game and another leading the league in assists per game since the 1981-1982 season. And by assisting Embiid on 171 his field goals this year, Harden and Embiid are the top teammate duo in the assist/field goal department. Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield are next in line, with 50 fewer assists.
The playoffs will be the real judgment of how dominant Embiid and Harden truly are, but if the regular season is a preview of what’s to come in April, the Sixers should be excited.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
