By all accounts Deandre Ayton out of Arizona has a very promising NBA career ahead of him after being selected with the first overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns.
But don't compare him to Joel Embiid. At least according to Joel Embiid.
ESPN analyst Chauncey Billups compared the 7-foot-1 big man to the 76ers' star center.
Don’t compare Ayton to me either... I play DEFENSE
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 22, 2018
"This is a guy who he reminds me of, Joel Embiid," Billups said. "He can take you out to the mid-post area, he can go back to the basket, he's very agile. He has the complete offense game. Not only that, he affects the other side of the basketball court. He's a rim protector and can guard the pick and roll."
Embiid was NOT in agreement and sent out some fire tweets.
#StriveforGreatness https://t.co/2EYenrqeDy
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 22, 2018
Keep my name out of this lolโ Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 22, 2018
๐๐๐๐๐๐ you got the crown man ๐๐๐๐๐ https://t.co/70ldUFAy2b
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) June 22, 2018
Don't compare Ayton to me either... I play DEFENSEโ Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 22, 2018
Draymond Green showed respect to the Twitter GOAT.
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๐๐๐๐๐๐ you got the crown man ๐๐๐๐๐ https://t.co/70ldUFAy2bโ Draymond Green (@Money23Green) June 22, 2018
Which prompted Jojo to drop one of LeBron's hashtags.
#StriveforGreatness https://t.co/2EYenrqeDyโ Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) June 22, 2018
Fact of the matter is, Embiid isn't wrong. Plenty has been written about Ayton's suspect defense.
Joel is king of Twitter and NBA Twitter is lit tonight. Even the @Suns and @Sixers accounts got in on the trash-talk action after their trade.
UPDATE: Ayton was asked about Embiid's tweet and mostly took the high road. Wise.
DeAndre Ayton might have heard about that Joel Embiid tweet. ๐
What'd the No. 1 overall pick have to say about it?
Follow along with our NBA live draft show: https://t.co/u8DFySzRkR pic.twitter.com/MEA8Oen6Dvโ Yahoo Sports NBA (@YahooSportsNBA) June 22, 2018