Joel Embiid Reflects on Early Struggles Following Fifth All-Star Appearance

Joel Embiid nearly quit before he hit his stride in the NBA. As a late bloomer in the game of basketball, Embiid had an uphill battle as he was fast-tracked to becoming a top recruit in the country out of high school and eventually a top pick in the NBA Draft.

Everything was going right for the big man until it all nearly fell apart. During his pre-draft process back in 2014, Embiid was expected to become the first-overall pick in the draft coming out of Kansas.

As the Cleveland Cavaliers were ready to take the Kansas product with their pick in hopes he could help them make a championship push, a foot injury sent the Cavs in a different direction.

When Cleveland got wind of the fact that Embiid would likely miss his entire rookie season, the Cavaliers instead selected Andrew Wiggins with intentions of flipping him for another veteran after the draft.

Embiid remained on the board beyond the first two picks, but he came off of it once the rebuilding Sixers decided to take a gamble on the injured big man. As expected, Embiid missed the 2014-2015 run. 

While the Sixers anticipated his eventual debut in 2016, he had another setback. It wasn't until the 2016-2017 season when Embiid finally took the floor for the 76ers. At that point, it felt like the big man had finally arrived, but he only appeared in 31 games before another injury derailed the rest of his rookie year.

At the time, Embiid almost called it quits. With injuries piling up, a tragic loss in his family, and doubters getting the best of him, the Sixers center wasn't sure he'd play again as the pressure and emotions nearly got the best of him.

"You look back at my first year after the surgery," Embiid said. "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're not going to make it, or you're never going to play in the league, and, obviously, the loss of my brother was big. I wanted to give up. I almost did."

Embiid almost gave up -- but his will to keep pushing got the high-prized Sixers center back on the right path. Now, fast forward four years beyond his debut season, and Embiid is a five-time All-Star and an MVP runner-up while on the road to being in the Most Valuable Player finalist once again.

"I had to go through a lot," Embiid said following his impressive 36-point showing in the 2022 NBA All-Star game. "It was very tough, but I'm glad I just kept pushing through with the help of everybody around me, but I'm just glad. I'm happy to be here," he finished.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.