Sixers

Joel Embiid is Now a Father

By Russ Joy

Published: Sep 25th, 2020 · 7:00 AM EDT

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Here’s some positive news in a wildly insane 2020. Joel Embiid and his girlfriend Anne de Paula welcomed a baby boy into the world:

Arthur Elijah De Paula Embiid 👶

We are so blessed and fortunate to welcome our little boy in this family. First of 11 or more? Trying to convince her but I’m not winning so far. I’m just trying to build a soccer team but for real I’m so excited for the future #GodIsGreat pic.twitter.com/eZaUnx90oo

— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) September 25, 2020

If the name Arthur stands out to you as being familiar, you’re not alone. It’s believed that baby Arthur is named after Joel’s late brother, who was tragically killed at age 13 when he was hit by a truck when walking home from school in Cameroon back in 2014. It was the most difficult moment of the Sixers center’s life, as he explained in an article for The Players’ Tribune, one in which he said he considered walking away from his NBA career.

The knowledge that Embiid had to leave his pregnant partner to enter the NBA bubble in Orlando hadn’t been previously made public, which was truly the couple’s decision to make.

I do wonder if Embiid would’ve been given a bit more leeway by fans and pundits around the league when he spoke out about safety and protocols prior to the NBA resuming the season.

On the NHL side, I wrote about and discussed the importance of accounting for the human element of players like Sean Couturier and James van Riemsdyk having to leave a newborn and three-month-old child, respectively, when evaluating their games.

It couldn’t have been easy for Joel Embiid to have to leave his girlfriend behind while pursuing a deep run in the postseason, but ultimately he tried to fulfill his professional responsibilities and was able to be with her for the most important moment of their lives.

Trust the Process Baby.