Joel Embiid Explains Why NBA Players Must Do 'Background Check' on Potential Mates

Joel Embiid is the subject of a GQ cover story by Clay Skipper, and this is the part where, as an aggregator, I really want to urge you to click through and give it a read so that this aggregation serves as a window and not a substitute.

But, this paragraph stood out (after it was explained that Embiid had mountains of chicken wings in his apartment) for headline purposes:

"“My girlfriend is coming,” he tells me, which hardly feels like an explanation for this quantity of food. When I ask if he can tell me who he’s dating, he says no but offers that she’s “pretty big at what she does.” The restless Internet mob has since suggested she’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Anne de Paula. (Embiid admits that dating while in the NBA is not without its challenges. “You gotta do your background check,” he says. “You don’t want to be that guy marrying a girl that someone else in the NBA has been with…. I’m sure some guys end up getting married to women that have been around. And maybe on the court they also get told”—here he lowers his voice to a whisper—”Hey, I f—– your wife.”)"

This is kinda retrograde thinking on the part of NBA players (though it’s also not surprising). Let’s say Embiid is indeed dating Anne De Paula, but they break up at some point, and Embiid later dates another SI Swimsuit model. Would De Paula in a million years ever trash-talk Embiid’s new girlfriend because they were together first?

[GQ]