Joel Embiid is heading to the NBA Draft Lottery. The Philadelphia 76ers announced that their star young center will represent the franchise at the event, which takes place on May 16. Philly needs all the good luck it can get, and despite his checkered injury history, Embiid is about as close to a talisman as the franchise has. Ergo, he’s going to the lottery, and the team apparently hopes there are a certain sugary drink in the building.
You servin' Shirley Temples at the Lottery, @NBA? … asking for a friend. https://t.co/jI7QG15nkU
— Philadelphia 76ers (@sixers) May 9, 2017
Embiid, meanwhile, reacted to the news by looking back on his draft night. As you may recall, ESPN’s cameras caught Embiid a few seconds before he found out he was on-air, so his face was stoic and he looked kinda bummed out. So once he found out he’s heading to the lottery, all he wanted to know was which guy was going to be this year’s Joel Embiid.
Excited to represent Philly at the Lottery and also excited to see which young fella is gonna have this draft reaction when they get drafted pic.twitter.com/ljVqX2WhJw
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) May 9, 2017
This is an especially important lottery for Philly – not only does the team have a 11.9 percent chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick, but if the Los Angeles Lakers fall out of the top-3, their pick heads to the Sixers. Additionally, on the off chance the Sacramento Kings are ahead of Philadelphia, the Sixers can swap picks.
If Philly ends up getting a top-2 pick on their own and one of picks 4-6 from the Lakers, Embiid may earn a permanent spot at all future Sixers lottery appearances going forward.
