LeBron praises Embiid's game, defends his 'very funny' antics
LeBron James likes what he sees from Joel Embiid both on and off the court.
The Cleveland Cavaliers icon praised the young Philadelphia 76ers center ahead of Monday night's matchup.
"He's good. He's very good," James said, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia's Jessica Camerato.
"Very talented. Multidimensional, can shoot the ball from the outside, can get to the post, footwork, up-and-unders, plays with a lot of energy, and he's funny too. Very funny. Very funny guy."
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Embiid, 23, leads the 76ers with 22.4 points, 11.2 boards, and 1.8 blocks per game while anchoring their ninth-ranked defense. He's been just as brilliant off the hardwood, where his sense of humor shines on social media and in interviews.
Not everyone is amused by the jokes and trash talk, but James thinks they're not worth getting worked up over.
"Who cares?" he asked, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "Who cares? What are you going to do about it? You're going to fight him? Who cares? People are so sensitive."
Embiid recently expressed the same sentiment, and doesn't seem at all worried about ruffling some feathers.
"If those guys that want to get their feelings hurt, if they're not strong mentally, that's not my fault," he said last week on "SportsCenter at Six" of players who can't handle his trolling.
"If we all gotta square up, I'm 7-foot-2, I'm a big dude, so I don't think you wanna try me. And I'm African too. That's the whole point of playing basketball. Having fun, go out there, have fun, kick someone's ass, and just play basketball."