Joel Embiid Really Wants Kristaps Porzingis To Join The Sixers


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The Sixers will hope that The Process begins yielding results this coming season, as Philadelphia has high hopes for their soon-to-be quartet of young stars. After acquiring the No. 1 pick in Thursday night’s NBA Draft, the Sixers will add Washington point guard Markelle Fultz to their already robust stable of young talent that includes last year’s top overall pick Ben Simmons, Dario Saric, and, the centerpiece of it all, Joel Embiid.

Those four players represent the future of Sixers basketball, but also the present so long as they can prove to stay healthy — this is mainly a question for Embiid and Simmons. If they can, Philadelphia projects to take something of a leap next season in on-court success and the goal being set inside the Sixers’ facility is to contend for the playoffs.

While they will have four young stars in the making entering next season, Embiid still wants more. The big news out of the NBA going into the draft was that the Knicks are seriously considering possible trade offers for their own young star, Kristaps Porzingis. This has been a stunning development, considering Porzingis’ value both on the court and contractually, but Phil Jackson acknowledged the rumors and admitted that he is legitimately thinking about trading the Zinger.

One of the things that has irked Phil the most about Porzingis is how he skipped his exit interview with the Knicks. Jackson spoke about that as a primary concern of the Knicks, and communication between the two sides has been minimal ever since. Embiid decided to pounce on that revelation by inviting Porzingis to come join the Sixers, because Philly doesn’t care about exit interviews.

The best part of Embiid recruiting Porzingis is that, if they could run it back in the 2015 Draft, the Sixers would assuredly pick Kristaps over Jahlil Okafor and the dream pairing of Embiid and Porzingis would be a reality.

Now, it’s not up to Porzingis where he goes next and after the deal to get Fultz at No. 1 it’s hard to see how Philly would meet Jackson’s demands, but it’s certainly fun to think about what a Sixers team would look like if they dealt Saric and some future picks to put Porzingis next to Embiid to create the tallest, longest, most fun front court in recent memory.
Even though we know it won’t happen, it’s a fun dream to have. Philly’s best bet might be to have Embiid trick Phil Jackson into playing him one-on-one in soccer for Porzingis, because as Rondae Hollis-Jefferson recently learned, Embiid’s just as much of a beast protecting the soccer goal as he is a basketball hoop.

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