25-under-25: Joel Embiid is the star of a Millennial generation

The Step Back is rolling out its 25-under-25 list over this week. Follow along with our rankings of the top 25 NBA players under the age of 25.

Ben Simmons may be the playmaking straw who stirs Philadelphia’s offensive cocktail, but Joel Embiid is the double shot of mezcal poured on top.

He is The Process for the 76ers and arguably, the best center in the entire NBA.

Embiid is the perfect star for the millennial generation. Qualifying for that demographic means having been born between 1981 and 1996. But embodying millennial qualities means pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, working hard, and hypebeasting on any/all social media platforms.

As far as power of personage goes, Embiid ranks among the league leaders. Embiid’s Twitter presence is unmatched, from shooting his shot at Rihanna to throwing shade haymakers at the opposition on a near-daily basis. He is here for that smoke.

Drafted third overall in 2014, Embiid came out of Kansas after one year but his journey to the pros was anything but typical. Embiid originally hails from Cameroon and didn’t start playing basketball until he was 15 years old. Fellow countryman, Luc Mbah a Moute, discovered him at his basketball camp and brought a 17-year-old Embiid stateside to develop his skills with the end goal of going pro.

Embiid mostly gets compared to Hakeem Olajuwon because that’s who he modeled his game after and their similar backstories offer tidy parallels. But given his physically domineering nature and showmanship both on and off the court, he’s the closest thing we have to an evolutionary Shaq. All he needs to do now is headline as a genie in a movie, front a video game or release his own rap album.

The only things holding Embiid back from entering the strata of superstardom are questions of health and longevity. Several foot and knee injuries caused him to miss his first two seasons and only play 31 games as a red-redshirt rookie. Despite that shortened résumé, he nearly won Rookie of the Year honors due to boasting a ridiculous on/off split for the 76ers – a number that somehow went up in 2018.

This past year quelled (at least some) worries surrounding his fragility. While Embiid was given periodic games off, he played in 66 contests during the regular season and eight of a possible 10 in the playoffs. His long absence (of 10 games) carried into the postseason, but was unrelated to his past medical history. He fractured an orbital bone, inflicted accidentally by teammate Markelle Fultz’s shoulder.

Upon his return from a broken face, he quickly made up for lost time and donned a sweet mask. The 76ers rattled off three straight wins behind his 18.7 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 3 blocks. As great players do, Embiid kicked it up a notch in the higher stakes of the second round. Although they ultimately lost in five against the Celtics, he averaged 23 points, 14 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1 block in 37.4 minutes across the series. That figures to be a recurring matchup to look forward to in the springs to come.

In what was his first “real” season, he was named an All-Star starter and made the All-NBA Second Team. Accolades should be the norm since it’s clear he’s only just begun to realize his immense gifts. Of course, it all reverts back to health.

Embiid could easily join the ring of greats constantly waxed poetic with “if-only” scenarios and hypothetical rhapsodies. The Greek tragedies of Bill Walton and Grant Hill hold their place in basketball lore like Sisyphus and Prometheus. Maybe, in Embiid’s case, injury luck smiles warmly upon one of the league’s youngest and brightest stars and we, as NBA fans, get to have nice things.

This year’s 25-under-25 illustrations are the work of Andrew Maahs of Basemint Design. You can follow on Twitter, @BasemintDesign.