Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid is the reigning MVP of the NBA, and if he can stay healthy long enough to meet the league’s new requirements, he has a chance to go back-to-back.
Much of Embiid’s NBA success is tied to his unique combination of athleticism and skill in addition to his height—Embiid is listed at 7-foot-0. But if he was significantly shorter, Embiid—who is a huge fan of soccer—believes he could have been a star in that sport too.
In an appearance on the popular Men in Blazers podcast that aired Tuesday, Embiid was asked if he ever considered pursuing soccer.
“Was pursuing football ever a real possibility for you?” host Roger Bennett asked Embiid. “Is there a parallel universe where Joel Embiid is every defender’s worst nightmare—where you’re the only player who makes [6-foot-5 Liverpool defender] Virgil van Dijk wake up in a cold sweat?”
“If Joel was a couple feet shorter, yeah,” Embiid answered with a smile. “At seven feet [tall]? I don’t think so. Even in goalkeeper, I don’t think I’d be good at seven feet. But yeah, an alternate universe where Joel is better than Messi, Ronaldo? Yeah, for sure. I would have been … oof.”
![Joel Embiid](https://i0.wp.com/d.newsweek.com/en/full/2342588/joel-embiid.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images
Embiid said when he played soccer in Cameroon as a youngster, he was (predictably) always one of the biggest players on the pitch. He looked up to Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’o, who is considered one of the greatest African players of all time. At his size, however, Embiid wasn’t likely to be able to play striker like Eto’o, so he modeled his game after 6-foot-2 Ivorian midfielder Yaya Touré.
“I was just way too big,” Embiid said. “I kind of found myself in the midfield because I just felt like I liked to control, I like to be a maestro, just make the passes, just control the whole game. […]People were actually scared of me because I would just make some move and act like I’m going to kick you in the foot, and everybody would be scared, so I was kind of like the bully.”
Embiid added that he wished could have been a professional. Still, playing soccer as a child helped him enormously when he converted to basketball at age 16, noting that the same thing happened to Hall-of-Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon.
“When you think about my story and the way I started at 16, I would have never thought I would be sitting here, because you start at 16, everybody is so advanced, they’ve been playing their whole career,” Embiid said.
“There’s no way I would have been sitting here, but I think you can kind of see that football had a lot to do with how I developed. Whether it was the footwork or the hand-eye coordination, I think football played a huge role in me becoming what I am now.”
These days, Embiid has to content himself with cheering for Arsenal, who made an impressive run to the top of the Premier League table last year before falling back in the final weeks and finishing second behind Manchester City. This year, the Gunners are third in the Premier League, trailing first-place Liverpool by five points.
“Last year there were no expectations,” Embiid said. “This year, especially with how much they spent, there’s a lot of expectations to go out and try to win the league. But there’s a reason why the Premier League is so hard, and there’s a reason that’s the best league in the world. It’s not going to be easy.”
Embiid added his signature phrase with a big smile.
“I do trust the process,” he said, referencing the Sixers’ mantra when they tanked for years to acquire high-lottery talent. “You always have to trust the process. I’m sure at some point, there’s going to be some good ending to it.”
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.