Joel Embiid played his first game as a member of the Philadelphia 76ers in the post-Ben Simmons era on Friday night. One day after Simmons was sent to the Brooklyn Nets as part of a package in exchange for James Harden and Paul Millsap, Embiid led the Sixers to a 100-87 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in which he had 25 points, 19 rebounds, five blocks, and four assists.
Embiid unsurprisingly got asked about the Simmons trade after the game, and after reacting to that, he was asked about a tweet that he sent in the aftermath. Here is the tweet:
— Joel “Troel” Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) February 10, 2022
You will be shocked to know that Embiid did not say that he posted this because he viewed Simmons as his biggest hater, or he wanted to make sure his tenure with the Sixers was dead, or anything like that. Instead, he decided to claim he had no idea what was going on.
Joel Embiid on his viral tweet once the Ben Simmons trade happened:
“I just saw the picture on the internet. I thought he was well-dressed, he had a nice suit on, good-looking. He had some swag, I thought it was a good picture” pic.twitter.com/UoVFVoeW3N
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) February 12, 2022
“Honestly, I don’t even know what the tweet was about,” Embiid said. “I just tweeted a random person.”
After the reaction in the room made clear that absolutely no one believed him, Embiid went on to say, “I just saw the picture on the internet. I thought he was well-dressed, he had a nice suit on, good-looking. So, he had some swag, so I thought it was a good picture.”
Our hunch is that Simmons will not have nearly as much fun responding to this tweet when he is inevitably asked about it.