Andre Drummond Discusses Past Battles With Joel Embiid

When the Philadelphia 76ers lost Dwight Howard in free agency to the Los Angeles Lakers this past summer, they went on to search for another reliable veteran backup for their high-prized superstar big man, Joel Embiid.

After the free agency floodgates opened, the Sixers landed on veteran center Andre Drummond. While the move to acquire Drummond made sense, it shocked the city of Philadelphia since Drummond and Embiid's on-court relationship seemed a bit shaky in the past from the outside looking in.

Recently, Drummond discussed his past battles against Embiid when he was a member of the Detroit Pistons with Sixers Wire's Ky Carlin. 

That's when the veteran center made it clear that there were never any real issues between himself and Embiid. While they used to get into some intense battles on the court, which led to trash-talking off of it, in the end, the Drummond-Embiid battles were just two competitors going at it -- and nothing more.

"We’ve never had any real beef, and I think people really misunderstood that. And the reason why that is is because I never backed down, so people thought it was beef. Like he would kill every big in the NBA and they would, you know, go under in a shell like I didn’t give a (expletive). You can bust my (expletive), I’m gonna keep coming. He’s not just gonna have a free night against me. I’m gonna keep playing regardless of how well he’s playing. He knew that, too. I think that’s kind of why he respected, I would say respected, my game because I just wouldn’t back down from him regardless of how well he played."

The days of the highly anticipated battles between Embiid and Drummond were long gone even before they linked up and became teammates. 

As Drummond's time with the Pistons ended during the 2019-2020 season after he got traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, an injury prevented Drummond from facing Embiid beyond their December 23 matchup in 2019. 

Since then, they haven't played against one another and won't be doing so beyond the practice court these days. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.