Do we like them?

Do we like Joel Embiid?

Our score: 7 out of 10. No harmful words or acts turned up and there is real good work, but one physical outburst at a reporter keeps him off the top shelf.

Embiid is Cameroonian-born and came to basketball late and by an unlikely road. He said in 2024 there was “no way, starting at 16, that I was supposed to be here”. He has built a lot of his public life around honouring his late younger brother, including a Philadelphia block party and a mural in his name.

The big stain is November 2024. After a loss to Memphis, Embiid confronted Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes over a column that mentioned his late brother, and the Inquirer reported he shoved him. Hayes apologised and the passage was cut, but Embiid reportedly rejected the apology. The NBA suspended him three games without pay, about $1 million, with executive Joe Dumars saying interactions “can never turn physical”.

On the harm check, nothing turned up. Searches on LGBTQ+ people, women, climate and public health found no harmful words or campaigning from him. I'd call the record on those topics thin rather than glowing. His recent high-profile partnership is with LeBron James, and nothing in what I read ties that to harm.

The recent news is a star-studded one. LeBron James, 41, announced in July 2026 that he will join the 76ers, and Embiid had tweeted him an invitation back in 2014. Plenty of fans reckon that tweet finally paid off.

The good stuff is real. Embiid donated his All-Star Game winnings to local homeless shelters, and he and the Sixers ownership pledged a combined $1.3 million for COVID-19 antibody testing of frontline health workers. He also won Olympic gold with Team USA in Paris and was given Cameroon's Order of Valor medal by President Paul Biya.

So where does that leave us? Nothing harmful, a lot of giving back, and one temper flare that cost him a million bucks and a suspension. One incident isn't a pattern, but it's a real mark. Easy to cheer for, with an asterisk.