Troll Gate: Was Joel Embiid Trolling About His "Anywhere Else" Comments? Or Has He Blurred The Line Between Troll And Reality
Over the years, Joel Embiid has built up quite the reputation for himself as a world-class shit stirrer. While it has often times come with the label of him being immature, and potentially not a strong enough leader to bring a championship to a city, it has allowed him the freedom to do or say whatever the heck he wants with zero repercussion. Because as far as I can remember, Joel Embiid has always "just been trolling".
It's the ultimate Get Out Of Jail Free card. He can do or say whatever he wants, and then claim he was just joking around if it rubs anybody the wrong way. So when Joel Embiid went out and said he just wants to win a championship "whether that's in Philly or anywhere else"...well clearly that was going to rub some folks in Philly the wrong way. Let's take a quick look at Joel Embiid's response to the response.
Again, it's a brilliant strategy here deployed by Joel Embiid. For years he has been given carte blanche. However…
We may have reached a boiling point here. We may have crossed into a new era where fans are no longer buying the act. I mean let's just roll back the tape here real quick.
Joel has been trolling for years. So maybe his troll game is so elevated at this point that it's nearly impossible to differentiate between a troll and reality. But to the untrained eye and ear…that sure as shit didn't sound like he was joking. That looks like a man who is despondent and feeling close to hopeless with his current situation. For once, it seemed like Joel Embiid was actually speaking from his heart there. There are really only 2 believable scenarios here in which Joel is actually trolling.
1) Maybe this is more of a "bluff" than a troll, and it's his way of telling the Sixers to figure their shit out this offseason. Hoping that bringing up the idea he could go off to win a championship anywhere else would make the front office get off their ass and find a way to make the Dame trade happen. Or…
2) Maybe he's trolling about the troll. Just some premium level gaslighting here. He knows he wasn't joking when he made those comments, but he could be joking about joking. It's a hail mary, for sure. Definitely a desperation play found deeeeeeep in the PR playbook. But it could definitely work as long as he has a monster game to open up the season.
There's no chance he was actually joking here, but winning cures everything. So that's pretty much that on Joel Embiid. Win a bunch and everybody forgets this ever happened. Get off to a rocky start of the season and the entire internet will get flooded with edits of Embiid in a Heat jersey. A nice little 'choose your own adventure' for Embiid and the Sixers this season.
Sidenote: This organization is so weird, man.