While Joel Embiid's performance on the court hasn't been quite as dominant as Sixers fans had hoped for early in the season, at least Jojo is still in good spirits, having fun trash talking pretty much anybody in the league.
As we've said in the past, Joel Embiid is the Joel Embiid of trash talking.
Hassan Whitesite was the first addition to the rivalry list, then Andre Drumond. Then just this passed weekend Embiid said he loves trash talking with Drayond Green. That didn't end real well for Joel on Saturday night though.
But there's something unique to the way Embiid does it. There isn't a lot of vitriol in his words. He's more of a lighthearted trash talker who wants to dunk on you and then take you out for a Shirley Temple after the game to make fun of you for it.
It's not particularly better or worse than trash talk with some actual disdain to it. Heck, Embiid hasn't even played long enough to develop a real heated rivalry yet. It's just Embiid's nature to be friendly about it.
It looked like Lonzo and LaVar Ball could maybe have provided that rivalry early on when Embiid poked some fun at the Laker on draft night.
But even that hoped-for reheating of the once-great Lakers-Sixers rivalry has received a dousing of cold water and a sprinkle of love from Embiid.
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ESPN's Romona Shelburne spoke to Embiid about his feelings on the Lakers rookie.
"I love Lonzo," Embiid told ESPN. "The whole situation with them, I think it's just fun. I love what he's doing, especially with his own shoe. He's staking his own place. People think I hate him, but I love him."
Ugh. I guess Jojo will leave the Lakers hating up to us.
Embiid also said his draft night tweet was simply an attempt to be funny and that there's no hard feelings between him and the Balls.
The Sixers will take on the Lakers on Wednesday night at the Staples Center in LA where we'll get our first chance to see if Ben Simmons will actually dunk on Lonzo's head and how hard.
All eyes will be on LaVar when it goes down.
