Watch: Joel Embiid Worked Out With Top 3 NBA Pick Over Summer
This offseason, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid seemed more involved with working out with other players. Typically, Embiid is one to keep to himself as he tends to do a lot of work with his personal trainer, Drew Hanlen.
But there were several times Embiid was spotted at workout sessions with other players, specifically his teammates James Harden, PJ Tucker, and Tyrese Maxey.
Sixers players weren’t the only ones to take the floor with Embiid this summer, though. Based on a new video that recently hit the net, Embiid participated in a session with Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren over the summer.
The former one-and-done prospect out of Gonzaga became the second-overall pick this past summer. As he landed on a rebuilding team that’s utilizing a similar blueprint to the Sixers’ “Process,” Holmgren was expected to get playing time right off the bat.
Unfortunately, a Pro-AM run with LeBron James went wrong for the young rookie. Holmgren made an impressive defensive play on the Los Angeles Lakers star, but when he landed after going up to make the play, Holmgren suffered a foot injury.
As it turned out, Holmgren suffered a Lisfranc injury. With his diagnosis, the Thunder anticipated he would miss the entire 2022-2023 NBA season, pushing his rookie debut back a year.
Holmgren’s NBA career is starting quite similarly to Embiid’s. Back before Embiid was the face of the 76ers, he was a star freshman out of Kansas who was drafted third overall. Before he stepped foot on an NBA court for a game, Embiid was ruled out for his rookie season due to a foot injury.
It was already public knowledge that Holmgren reached out to Joel Embiid this offseason to receive advice and encouragement from the 76ers star about hitting a tough roadblock early on in his career. It turns out the two bigs worked together in the offseason as well.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
