All in the family
The road to the NBA is not one of just Joel Embiid. This is a story of the entire Embiid family. And it all begins from the binding love between Cameroonian parents Thomas Embiid and Christine Embiid. Joel’s father was a competitive handball player and a military man. His mother managed the home, and cared for the family, a young brother Arthur who has since passed and a younger sister Muriel.
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This family found itself separated by distance, ocean, culture, and language when Joel Hans Embiid turned 16. There is no equivalent event in America to compare to this. A 16 year old son, at the urgings of mentor and fellow countryman Luc Mbah a Moute, packed up and followed his dream to play professional basketball with no guarantees, no assurances, and no turning back.
Christine Embiid earned that moment of pride
The courage of Joel Embiid is tangible. But the love and trust of Christine Embiid is beyond normal human capacity. Imagine agreeing to send your son to another country for the express purpose of competing in a sport which is neither common nor familiar in your national sports circles? His success at Kansas, and the rapid rise in the projections for the 2014 NBA Draft came crashing down as her son fell to injury. First to stress fractures in his back, then to a fractured foot which has mixed results of success for big basketball players.
Imagine being the mother whose son entered an NBA draft injured. Then discover he was drafted, but by a team with a poor chance of winning. Finally, learning that Joel Embiid would need a second foot surgery. Thankfully, her son did not land on any ole NBA team. He ended up on the only NBA team to hold a long term future perspective. That enabled the team to send Joel Embiid to the world-renowned Aspetar rehab clinic in Qatar. Not once, but twice. And she had to endure each setback with patience and support for her son. Even as Joel Embiid prepared for the 2016-2017 season, there was no guarantee. She waited, hoped, and prayed.