Joel Embiid doing his best to recruit Kristaps Porzingis

By Brandon Apter, Sports Talk Philly editor

The Philadelphia 76ers will pick first in tonight's NBA Draft and it looks like Markelle Fultz will be joining an already talented young core that includes the likes of Ben Simmons, Dario Saric, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and of course, Joel Embiid.

We all know about Embiid's social media history. He joined #RTArmageddon, has tried to woo his celebrity crush Rihanna on Twitter and even tried to recruit LeBron James to Philadelphia in the summer of 2014. Embiid's latest recruitment project seems to be focused on Knicks big man Kristaps Porzingis, who is reportedly on the trading block. Porzingis is a phenomenal defender and would pair very nicely with Embiid. After the Knicks season ended, Porzingis skipped his exit interview with the front office, so Embiid tweeted about a benefit for Kristaps if he joins the Sixers.

 In two seasons with the Knicks, Porzingis is averaging 16.1 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game, shooting 43.6 percent overall and 34.6 percent from beyond the arc.

As mentioned earlier, Porzingis skipped out on exit meetings after the season and no one from the Knicks has had contact with him since then, per ESPN. Porzingis' brother told ESPN that Kristaps wants to stay in New York and win with them, despite how they are treating their players.

New York has engaged in conversations with a few teams, but got rejected by the Suns by asking for the No. 4 pick in the draft tonight and up and coming guard Devin Booker. At this point, not even Boston and their plethora of first round picks in the coming years can get the job done, so it's safe to say that Porzingis will not be joining Embiid and company in Philadelphia.


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