Drawing Michael Jordan & Hakeem Olajuwon Parallels, Joel Embiid Reveals Why He Wouldn’t Force Basketball on Son Arthur

Not every father gets to see his son follow in his footsteps. However, from Dell Curry to Mychal Thompson, the world of the NBA has seen many such instances come to light. More recently, it is Bronny who was drafted into the league, with a more-than-heavy load of expectations, and is set to play alongside LeBron James in the upcoming season. However, this is not something that Joel Embiid wishes to impose upon his son necessarily.

In the debut episode of ‘The Check Ball Show’, basketball enthusiasts Austin Mills and Drew Hanlen brought in the Philadelphia 76ers star. Recalling the journey that allowed him to get to this pivotal point, The Process highlighted how it took him almost 16 years just to just get a memorable break. One of the co-hosts highlighted, “Joel and MJ didn’t start playing basketball until they were like almost halfway through High School.”

This caused the Cameroonian-American to reply, “You forgot Hakeem. Started at 15, too.” The opportunities presented to him, coupled with the fact everyone cannot secure them, put him at a crossroads with his son, Arthur. “I have a kid, and I’m not going to push sports into, you know, I’m not going to push him into sports. He’s going to do whatever he wants,” said Embiid.

“But then again, if he does like it, and if he likes basketball and he wants to try it, it’s almost like ‘Well I started at 16.’” Joel Embiid, along with Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon, found tremendous success in the field of basketball despite arriving late to the sport. Similarly, His Airness’ and Olajuwon’s children attempted to follow suit and achieve the same recognition.

Jeffrey and Marcus Jordan found early success during their high school tenure and later went on to play at the University of Illinois and Central Florida, respectively. However, their on-court prowess couldn’t match the level required in an NBA player. Abi Olajuwon was waived by Tulsa Shock without getting much opportunity. This would cause her to take her talents to Romania, Croatia, Belgium, etc. While she would return to the WNBA as an assistant coach, she never received the recognition that a superstar would get from playing in the highest women’s basketball league.

Having seen the children of NBA legends flourish while others got cast and waived away, Joel Embiid would be right in questioning what future lies ahead for his son. However, given that Arthur is currently only 3, it will be a long time before the Sixer will need to worry about that situation. Fortunately, this hasn’t stopped Embiid from still laying some groundwork with his son’s game.

“At that moment it kind of reminded me like myself, because usually like you show me one move, and then I’m able to do it,” said Embiid when describing a video of Arthur practicing with a ball. “I was like ‘Let’s do one dribble pullup’, he’s like dribbling shooting. And that so like yeah, that was interesting.”

Arthur’s nationality convinced Joel Embiid to play for Team USA instead of France

After having devoted 10 years of his life to the NBA, Joel Embiid was finally added to an Olympic squad. However, this news also had a side twist to it, as he opted to play for Team USA, instead of Cameroon. Furthermore, the player was also granted French Citizenship by President Emmanuel Macron back in 2022. In a letter dated a year before that, the Sixer had spoken about the idea of representing their country during the 2024 Paris Olympics. Therefore, all of this raised the question: What happened?

As it turned out, Arthur happened. While Joel Embiid originates from Cameroon and his wife Anne de Paula from Brazil, their son was born in America. As a way to honor and play for a winning team alongside his comrades, he had to eventually make the tough decision. “I want to play with my brothers in the league. I want to play for my fans because they’ve been incredible since the day I came here.”

“But most of all, I want to honor my son who was born in the US. I want my boy to know I played my first Olympics for him,” Embiid said in a statement through X. With the games being held in France itself, some would assume that Joel Embiid would not receive as much of a warm reception. However, the player is prepared to face it. “I expect a lot of boos,” he said during an interview.

“But I actually love it. It’s not going to be anything I haven’t seen.” Arthur Embiid may not make a basketball decision yet as he’s too young. However, he is influencing his father to carve out a certain path for his own journey with the sport.