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Watch: Joel Embiid Worked Out With Top 3 NBA Pick Over Summer

Sixers center Joel Embiid participated in a workout with Chet Holmgren over the summer.

Justin Grasso

Watch: Joel Embiid Worked Out With Top 3 NBA Pick Over Summer
Watch: Joel Embiid Worked Out With Top 3 NBA Pick Over Summer /
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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_.

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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Title: Credentialed writer/reporter covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation Email: JustinGrasso32@Gmail.com Location: Philadelphia, PA Expertise: Reporting, insight, and analysis on the Sixers and the NBA  Justin Grasso is a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation.  Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writer’s Association.  Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoNBA

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