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Joel Embiid Plays 0 Minutes in USA Win Over South Sudan

Kevin Kinkead

By Kevin Kinkead

Published:

Hope you took Joel Embiid’s unders, because he didn’t play a single minute in a 17-point USA win against South Sudan.

There wasn’t any information about any injury hindering Embiid, so it would seem as though he was simply glued to the bench. He played poorly against Serbia and South Sudan is a wing and guard-heavy team, so it’s quite possible that Steve Kerr thought Joel wasn’t a great matchup. They’re much more switchable on defense without Embiid out there, and they can really smother the opposition on the perimeter. That said, Embiid did play in the exhibition against South Sudan and put up 14 and 7 on 5-6 shooting while logging 18 minutes.

Keep in mind, Jayson Tatum sat on the bench for the entirety of the Serbia game. Same Tatum who just won a ring with the Celtics. So it’s not like Embiid is some blatant outlier type of snub. It looks bad from an optics perspective, but we’ll have to see if this is a one-off or indication of lineup plans for the rest of the tournament.

This was Embiid’s lone highlight from the evening:

Kevin Kinkead
Kevin Kinkead

Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com

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