From Cameroon to Philadelphia
Joel was born March 16, 1994 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. His father Thomas Embiid worked for the Cameroonian military; his mother Christine ran a household with three children — Joel, his older sister Muriel, and his much-younger brother Arthur (born 2001). Joel didn’t pick up basketball until age 16; he’d been a soccer goalie and volleyball player his entire childhood.
He moved to the United States in 2011 to attend Montverde Academy in Florida (a basketball powerhouse) for his junior year of high school, then transferred to The Rock School in Gainesville for his senior year. He committed to the University of Kansas in summer 2012. His parents and sister stayed in Cameroon during his college and early NBA career; his brother Arthur was 13 years old in 2014 when the family was preparing for Joel’s NBA Draft.
October 16, 2014 — Arthur's death
Arthur Embiid was killed on October 16, 2014 in a hit-and-run car accident in Yaoundé, Cameroon. He was 13 years old. Joel was in Philadelphia preparing for his NBA debut; the 76ers had just drafted him 3rd overall in June 2014, but Joel was still recovering from the right-foot stress fracture that delayed his rookie season.
Joel returned to Cameroon for Arthur’s funeral. He came back to Philadelphia and underwent additional foot surgery, sitting out the entire 2014-15 NBA season. When the 76ers gave him his first NBA jersey for the 2016-17 season — his actual rookie year — he asked for #21. The number had not been retired by Philadelphia (#21 had been worn by Theo Ratliff, Phil Chenier, and Caron Butler in earlier eras). Joel kept it through his entire NBA career.
The 21 references in Embiid's career
Embiid has periodically discussed Arthur in post-game interviews. After scoring 23 points in his NBA debut on October 26, 2016, he immediately said in the post-game press conference: ‘I scored 21 of those for my little brother.’ (He’d made a steal late in the 4th quarter and dunked it home for the 21-point milestone.) The 76ers retired the #21 court flooring at Wells Fargo Center for the night of Embiid’s first All-Star selection (March 2018).
Embiid won the 2022-23 NBA MVP — at the press conference accepting the award, he wore an Arthur Embiid memorial pin and a custom Arthur Embiid jacket designed by his stylist. The MVP speech was about Arthur for the first 90 seconds. Joel has stated multiple times in interviews that the brother he never got to know as a fellow adult is the central absence of his career.
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Wayne Gretzky 99: The Story Behind the Number Why Aaron Judge Wears #99 — A Spring-Training Default Why Derek Jeter Wore #2 — A Yankees Last Single-Digit Why Did Michael Jordan Wear 23?Background facts cross-referenced with the Wikipedia article on Joel Embiid and Pro-Football-Reference / Basketball-Reference public records. Lead image via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).