Shout out to Joel Embiid for giving sports talk hosts something to talk about before we get into the throes of training camp. People are upset that Joel Embiid said LeBron James isn’t the Lebron James he was a couple years ago, or any of these older guys for that matter in an interview with David Marchese at The New York Times. He’s not wrong:

NYT: “Do you have any doubt about who’s going to win the gold medal?

Joel Embiid: “I mean, you look at the talent that the US has, but I mean, there’s also equal talent on other teams. And the talent that’s on the US team, you also got to understand that most of those guys are also older. LeBron now is not the LeBron that was a couple of years ago. So it’s a big difference. So the name might be there, but everybody would also tell you, and you can see for yourself, the athletic LeBron and the dominant that he was a couple of years ago is not the same that he is now. So, yeah, I mean, I think people get fooled by the names on their own paper, but, yeah, those names have been built throughout their career and now they’re older, so they’re not what they used to be.”

LeBron James isn’t the same guy he was a couple years ago. Can anyone even argue that? Same with Kevin Durant, who has barely practiced with Team USA and Kawhi Leonard who was sent home because of his knee. Steph Curry even showed signs of slowing down this season. So what exactly is Embiid wrong about? Didn’t we all just spend months talking about old people unfit for their job? He was asked about being the favorite to win the gold medal and gave an answer that he wasn’t taking the other competition lightly.  Which is funny because people use Embiid’s aloofness against him in basketball conversations all the time. Embiid calls out the old guild, albeit teammates he’s about to try and win gold with, and he’s being treated like he tried to Tonya Harding someone’s knee in practice. If Team USA goes and lays an egg in the Olympics we’ll look back on this quote and remember the prophet Embiid warned us. I mean they just beat South Sudan by one point and they don’t even have an indoor facility to practice in.

Still, sports talk has already started the morning piling on:

It looks like these comments are really dividing Team USA. Look how fractured team chemistry is:

I don’t actually believe anyone is mad about this answer, nor the ones he gave about JJ Redick being crazy to take the Lakers job and that he considers himself in the GOAT competition if it wasn’t for injuries. Millions of people on Twitter call LeBron washed every single day. First Take doesn’t go one week without talking about the Lakers and if LeBron can win a title at his age. But when Joel Embiid says the quiet part out loud people start to freak out. I’m gonna need him to start dominating and getting used to FIBA rules because the takes on Twitter are getting out of control.


Sidenote: I love that I have a subscription to The Athletic (with ads), which is owned by NYT, and I needed another subscription to read this interview. What gives? It’s a sports interview. Put it on The Athletic (with ads) main page. The subscription model in 2024 is amazing!