Joel Embiid Teams up With Sixers' Partners to Donate Seven-Figures

Sixers center Joel Embiid recently teamed up with Managing Partners Josh Harris, and David Blitzer to donate for COVID-19 relief.

Philadelphia 76ers All-Star center Joel Embiid recently donated $500,000 to COVID-19 relief in the community. In addition to his generous donation, the Sixers' big man made it clear that he was researching ways to help healthcare workers in any way he could.

Well, this week, the big man is following up on his plans. Along with Sixers' Managing Partners, Josh Harris and David Blitzer, Embiid, and the Sixers will be making a $1.3 million donation to Penn Medicine for Critical Support of Health Care Workers Fighting COVID-19.

“During this pandemic, many doctors and nurses are working like soldiers on the front lines of a war and they need to be provided with as much armor as possible in this battle,” Embiid said on Friday. “COVID-19 antibody testing can help Philadelphia health care workers at this critical time, and we need to do everything possible to help those heroes who are putting their lives at risk to help us.”

Embiid and company's donation will provide a "much-needed boost for efforts to quickly identify health care workers who may have immunity to the new virus." On Friday, the University of Pennsylvania President Amy Guttman shared gratitude towards Embiid and the Sixers for their generosity during such a tough time.

“We are enormously grateful to Joel Embiid, Josh Harris, and David Blitzer for stepping up in a time of great need with forward-thinking philanthropy—helping us to understand COVID-19 through the lens of precision medicine,” said Guttman. We will take this new and powerful knowledge about how our bodies react to the virus and use it to protect our healthcare heroes, sharing these lessons with the City of Philadelphia and across the world.”

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