“Thankful for Andrew Wiggins getting LeBron James level hype”: Joel Embiid is grateful for having his Kansas teammate bring in NBA scouts to watch him play

Joel Embiid dishes on how eternally grateful he is to Andrew Wiggins for bringing in a bevy of NBA scouts to Kansas practices with his hype. 

Joel Embiid has become quite the MVP-esque player these past few seasons. The 2020-21 NBA season saw Embiid be an MVP frontrunner before getting sidelined with injury and giving up MVP honors to Nikola Jokic. Yet, this shouldn’t be a slight on him as when he was on the court, he was arguably the best player in the world. 

Joel Embiid has continued his dominance into this season as well, averaging 29.9 points and 11.4 rebounds a night. While his efficiency hasn’t been all too great for a big-man, his overall game is much too refined to be looked at as merely inefficient.

Also read: “You better win the MVP Joel Embiid, cause next year, it’s mine”: Jayson Tatum takes a warning shot as he aims to be the 2022-23 NBA MVP

The Sixers big man has built his way to becoming an MVP caliber player over the years but he wasn’t exactly someone who showed that potential from the get-go 

While he may have been a 5-star recruit coming out of high school, he certainly didn’t turn heads the way his Kansas teammate, Andrew Wiggins did. Instead of stealing his spotlight, Wiggins instead inadvertently helped Embiid out a ton. 

Joel Embiid on Andrew Wiggins bringing in many NBA scouts to watch their practices 

While Andrew Wiggins never reached LeBron James’ ‘The Chosen One’ level of hype, he certainly was lauded as being the next great NBA wing. Joel Embiid certainly is one person who won’t ever forget just how much hype surrounded the future Minnesota Timberwolf as the two shared the court together on the 2013-14 Kansas Jawhawks roster.

Also read: “I’m proud of you Joel Embiid”: JJ Redick gets emotional talking to the MVP candidate as the former Sixers do a sit down

Wiggins never panned out to a be a player who was lauded as being a potential torch bearer to Kobe Bryant’s light but this shouldn’t take away from the 1x All-Star’s solid NBA play. 

When talking about Kansas, Joel Embiid dished on why he’s as grateful as he is to Andrew Wiggins: 

“I’m always thankful for Wiggins. Going to college, he had so much hype, they were like, ‘He’s the next LeBron.’ I used that to my advantage. We had so many scouts to watch our practices. If he didn’t have all that hype, I don’t know where I could have ended up.” 

Wiggins went no.1 in the 2014 NBA Draft and Joel Embiid went number 3 to the Philadelphia 76ers. 

[Joel Embiid] “I’m always thankful for Wiggins. Going into college, he had so much hype. They were like “he’s the next Lebron”. I used that to my advantage, we had so many scouts to watch our practices. If he didn’t have all that hype, I don’t know where… https://t.co/OCSawmOqpa

— NBA_Highlights (@rNBA_Highlights) March 31, 2022