NBA Draft Rumors: GM says you can’t use top five pick on Joel Embiid

It’s been said life can change in the blink of an eye and while Joel Embiid isn’t going through a life altering experience, per say, his bank account sure is.

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Thought by many to be the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Joel Embiid’s draft stock has allegedly taken quite the nose dive in recent days after news broke that the former Kansas big man suffered a broken foot.

Now there’s been word that Embiid may not even be drafted during the lottery, though that seems to be a bit overly dramatic considering Nerlens Noel of Kentucky, who was the favorite to the the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NBA Draf only fell to the sixth selection after suffering a late season knee injury.

Granted, a broken foot and a torn knee ligament are two different injuries and NBA front offices have valid concern over big men who have suffered broken feet as we’ve seen it derail careers, which has lead to an unnamed general manger to suggest you can’t use a top five pick on Joel Embiid.

“I think there is a point at which you use a pick on him, where you’re hoping maybe these are just fluke things that are not going to be recurring,” a GM told Sporting News. “But that point is not in the Top 5 or so. You can’t use a Top 5 pick. I think there are too many other good options there to think about using the pick on one who has these injury problems.”

Given the amount of talent in this draft, it’s within reason to believe Embiid could slip out of the top five though once you start getting into those selections, it’s not nearly as big a gamble to draft Embiid had you done it with the first or second overall pick.