Joel Embiid is recruiting Kristaps Porzingis and still winning at social media

Joel Embiid is (jokingly) recruiting Kristaps Porzingis, which highlights just why the Philadelphia 76ers big is so good on social media.

While the number of players who are better than Joel Embiid on the court is already limited, that number shrinks significantly off the court — where Embiid is one of the most entertaining social media follows in the sports world.

Already voted Best Social Media Follow by his peers at the NBPA Players’ Choice Awards, Embiid’s ability to stir up fun without becoming overly controversial is uncanny. We’ve already watching him jokingly make his case to LeBron James on Twitter, while his 2K rating was the butt of his own joke last month.

Embiid’s latest social activity is no different, poking fun at a slightly sensitive situation in a way that only endears him to Philadelphia 76ers fans — by recruiting Kristaps Porzingis.

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Porzingis is likely the guy Philadelphia should have drafted back in 2015, when the Knicks took him off the board fourth — just one spot after Jahlil Okafor. At 7-foot-3 with a smooth 3-point stroke and mobility to spare, Porzingis was the originator of the Unicorn moniker that has since taken over basketball debates.

New York has fallen apart over the past couple of seasons, with Phil Jackson‘s departure and Carmelo Anthony‘s mounting discontent adding to a hectic and controversy-laden year for Porzingis. The Knicks drafted Frank Ntilikina over Dennis Smith Jr., while Porzingis could soon be the only reputable talent left at the forefront of that rotation.

The fact that Jeff Hornacek reportedly cursed him out to his longtime friend in Willy Hernangomez doesn’t make the situation much better either. That’s also the reported reason as to why Porzingis skipped his exit interview with the team earlier this summer — something that left quite a few Knicks fans with a looming sense of unease.

Porzingis recently took to Instagram to drop a phrase that’s highly familiar to Sixers fans while playing with his home country of Latvia in the EuroBasket tournament. Embiid took note:

This isn’t brand new either. Embiid kickstarted his recruitment after Porzingis skipped his exit interview:

The logistics of actually getting Porzingis to Philadelphia would be tough. The trade price would likely include either Ben Simmons or Markelle Fultz, which is too high to pay, while his rookie contract doesn’t expire until the 2018-19 season — when signing him to a max contract could interfere with the team’s ability to retain it’s other core pieces down the line.

A lineup of Embiid/Porzingis/Simmons/Redick/Fultz would be tantalizing, but the likelihood of that happening any time soon is negligible.

This does, however, speak to just how popular Embiid is. Not every NBA player could mockingly recruit other stars while citing ‘Trust the Process’ and not get grilled by the media and fans alike. Imagine if this was LeBron, or even Kevin Durant attempting to make fun on the Twitterverse. The backlash, while unwarranted, would be significant.

Embiid has energized this Sixers team, and any reports about a potential holdout over a contract extension feel further and further from the truth when he makes comments like this. Not many younger players are as committed to a city as Embiid has been since day one, and his willingness to fully embrace both the rebuild and the forthcoming ascent has been a unique and virtually isolated event on the NBA landscape.

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It’s a genuine joy to cover him, and a joy for fans to support him. Stuff like this is why.