Joel EMBIID

Embiid's journey to stardom began in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where he played multiple sports while growing up. He briefly considered pursuing a volleyball career before ultimately choosing basketball.

He was discovered by NBA player Luc Mbah a Moute at a basketball camp in the West African nation's capital. Mbah a Moute mentored him and helped him move to the U.S. at 16 to pursue the sport as a career. The teenage prospect moved to Florida for high school and was then recruited by the University of Kansas.

In his one season at college, he won the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award despite being ruled out of the Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament (aka March Madness). He declared for the 2014 Draft and was picked third overall by the Philadelphia 76ers.

A broken foot and subsequent complications ruled Embiid out of the whole of both the 2014-15 and 2015-16 NBA seasons. He eventually made his debut at the start of the 2016-17 campaign, posting 20 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Having established himself as the 76ers starting center, a torn meniscus ended his season prematurely although he was still named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

In 2018, he was named as a starter in the All-Star Game with Allen Iverson the last 76er to have that honour in 2010. He helped Philadelphia to the playoffs for the first time in six years with the side beating Miami Heat in the first round before going down to the Boston Celtics in five games.

Acquiring the nickname "The Process", sharing it with the era of the franchise - ie. trust the process - which saw them perform poorly in order to gain high picks in the draft, Embiid has continued to shine. He was second in league MVP voting in 2020-21, behind Nikola Jokic, having led the 76ers to the best regular season record in the Eastern Conference.

In the 2022-23 season, Embiid did claim his first league MVP award. The 76ers, however, continue to disappoint in the postseason having failed to reach the Eastern Conference Finals during his time there.

With seven All-Star Game selections to his name and NBA scoring titles in 2022 and 2023, Embiid is now gearing up to represent Team USA in Paris as they bid for a fifth consecutive Olympic title.