Joel Embiid picks the greatest player of all time and it isn't Michael Jordan or LeBron James
Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid isn’t shy about sharing his opinion. Embiid has made an enemy of Andre Drummond, Russell Westbrook and a number of referees. After some comments Tuesday, he may have to add legions of Chicago Bulls fans to that list.
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Embiid does not think Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. Jordan isn’t the sure-fire choice in that argument, but he’s the popular one. Others like to argue LeBron James deserves the nod. That’s who Embiid went with, right?
Nope. Embiid chose a different player.
"MJ is NOT the 🐐."—@JoelEmbiid
Full #NBADesktop: https://t.co/EdEUg43RLf pic.twitter.com/3HAS9SGer8
— The Ringer (@ringer) February 19, 2019
While appearing on The Ringer’s NBA Desktop with Jason Concepcion, Embiid revealed he believes Wilt Chamberlain is the greatest basketball player of all time.
Here’s what Embiid had to say about that pick, according to Uproxx.
“To me, you got Wilt Chamberlain. I mean, he has all the records. They’re never gonna be beaten. I don’t see anybody getting 100 points in a game. That’s it. He’s the GOAT.”
On one hand, that’s a pretty bonkers opinion. Generally, the greatest of all time debate is focused on Jordan and James in basketball. If you wanted to expand that, Chamberlain would probably be in the top-10. But he might not make the top-5. A FoxSports article from 2017 ranked Chamberlain No. 8, for reference.
Then again, is it really all that surprising that Embiid picked a big man as the greatest basketball player of all time? Did you really think he was going to go with a guard or a forward?
No matter how you look at it, the greatest of all time debate is going to be subjective. As outlandish as it seems, Embiid can claim Chamberlain is the greatest basketball player of all time.
He’s wrong, but he can have that opinion. It’s just not going to make him popular in Chicago.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
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