Getty Joel Embiid #21 of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Choose your own path. That’s the main message behind a new commercial from Crypto.com featuring Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid and Kansas head coach Bill Self. In it, Embiid strolls the streets in a khaki-colored trench coat as his haters shout from the balcony.
The cameras follow Embiid down the winding avenues of a city that looks a lot like Philadelphia. The Sixers’ big man winds up shedding the coat and hitting an outdoor playground court for an impromptu shooting session. Self – Embiid’s college coach – narrates the video:
“Joel, since Kansas we’ve taken our own path. We’ve never done what everyone else did. We took on the fear. We ignored the doubt. We loved the excitement. We believed. Even when our path didn’t make sense to everyone else, we kept going – we keep going until our path is the only one they wish they had taken.”
It ends with Crypto.com’s tagline: “Fortune Favors the Brave.”
Crypto.com is the official jersey patch sponsor of the Sixers, a partnership announced in 2021 between the team and the “fastest growing crypto platform with more than 10 million users worldwide,” per a press release. The Crypto.com patch appears on the left shoulder of Sixers’ jerseys.
My message to @JoelEmbiid is one for all of us: Fortune Favors the Brave. #FFTB #EMVPiid
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Fined $50,000 for Violating Injury Reporting Rules
The Sixers have been fined $50,000 for violating the NBA’s injury reporting rules regarding Embiid’s return from a concussion. The league claims that the team “failed to disclose Embiid’s participation status in an accurate and timely manner” prior to Game 3. Embiid was first ruled out and then upgraded to “doubtful” on May 6. The All-Star center came out for pre-game warmups on Friday night, then decided to give it a go.
The following was released by the NBA.
Doc Rivers hinted that he knew Embiid was going to play when talking to reporters after Game 3. The Sixers’ head coach touched on the subject during his pre-game media availability, too. Those comments occurred about two hours prior to tip-off.
“There is no cap. It’s all visual,” Rivers said, via All 76ers. “We have people watching too, who will come to me at halftime and hopefully, not during the first or second quarter during the game, and that’s happened before, and they’ll just tell me that they don’t like something.”
All Hail the Return of ‘The Anchor’
Embiid scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in his return from injury on Friday night. It was one of the most remarkable performances in Philly sports history. He was a monster on the defensive end of the floor where he locked up Bam Adebayo. After the game, Tyrese Maxey praised the way “the anchor” impacted everything the Sixers did.
“Yeah, he’s [Joel Embiid] the anchor. He’s the anchor,” Maxey told reporters. “And he knows all the coverages. And he’s talking to us. It’s a little bit harder for DJ [DeAndre Jordan] because he came in mid-season, so everything was on the fly.
“But, just his presence. His presence. He’s 7-foot, 7-foot-1, and he’s a big body down there. It’s hard to go in there and drive into him. It makes it difficult for the opposing. And we really do appreciate him for that.”
Tyrese Maxey on Joel Embiid:
“He’s a soldier, man. Thumb, concussion, broken face. Makes him look even uglier now.”
