Joel Embiid appears to be inching his way towards true unicorn territory.
The Philadelphia 76ers star shared this week the insane goal he has set for himself as a big man — he wants to become a 90 percent free throw shooter.
“I love getting to the free throw line, and I don’t spend any energy doing so,” said Embiid, per Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philly. “I actually rest more, so I should just take my time and knock them down. At some point in my career, I want to become a 90 percent free throw shooter and just knock them down every single time, because I go there so many times.
The four-time All-Star Embiid is actually closer to his goal than you might think. He is shooting a career-high 84.9 percent from the stripe this season, which is an absurd number given that he attempts 11.8 free throws a game.
Seven-footers who can hit foul shots at an elite level are extremely rare. Only players like Dirk Nowitzki (87.9 percent career shooter from the free throw line) and Yao Ming (83.3 percent) come to mind. Among Embiid’s peers, just Karl-Anthony Towns (83.5 percent for his career) and Nikola Jokic (83.1 percent) are even close.
But Embiid has always done ridiculous things for a player of his size. Don’t be surprised if he reaches his goal of 90 percent from the line one day.
