Joel Embiid: ‘I won’t stop until I win one for this city’

A title matters to Embiid. “I won’t stop until I win one for this city,” he says. Winning MVP, though, matters too. “I never thought I’d be at this level,” he says. Last summer a clip circulated of a teenage Embiid, still in high school, catching an outlet pass, taking one dribble, elevating . . . and finding himself behind the backboard. At Kansas, he asked to be redshirted before what turned out to be his only season. When pro scouts projected him as the top pick, he told them he wasn’t ready. When he got to the NBA the only award he was interested in was Defensive Player of the Year.