Sixers' Joel Embiid Called Milwaukee 'Corny' and Hoped Bucks Wouldn't Draft Him in 2014

Before he became 'The Process,' Philadelphia 76ers' superstar center Joel Embiid was doing all that he could to become the first-overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. The Kansas University product had all of the tools to be the first pick, but there was one negative about his game, which sent the Cleveland Cavaliers in a different direction.

At the time, Cleveland was aiming to compete. They needed a player who could help them win-now. There wasn't time for them to go with the player that was rehabbing an injured foot and was likely to miss his rookie debut. Despite putting on what Cleveland's General Manager at the time, David Griffin, described as the "best workout, he'd ever seen" Griffin was forced to go in a different direction on draft day.

Embiid's college teammate, Andrew Wiggins, would become the first pick before he was flipped to Minnesota for an even more win-now move by Cleveland. The selection of Wiggins slid Embiid down to potentially become the second, third, fourth pick or so on.

After getting passed up by Cleveland, there was a chance that the Milwaukee Bucks could land Embiid with the second-overall pick. Instead, they elected to go with Jabari Parker. It's unclear if they actually favored Parker over Embiid or if they made a note of Embiid's disinterest in them. Either way, the Kansas big man was shockingly happy to get passed up there.

"That place is corny," Embiid told his agent at the time, according to Bleacher Report columnist, Yaron Weitzman. At the time, Embiid had two destinations on his mind before settling for Philly. One, he wanted to go to Cleveland because that meant he was the best player in his draft class. Or two, he wanted to go to Los Angeles, where he was comfortably settled in at the time while rehabbing from surgery.

It took some convincing, but Embiid didn't resist the idea of playing for the Sixers. At this point, it comes as no secret the big man is loving where he's at. Sure, there have been some rifts between Embiid and the Philly fan base as of late, but as he's been in Philly for six years now, it would be hard to imagine Embiid anywhere else.

Oh, and that dislike for Milwaukee still seems to be there too. If you can remember, a few years back, Embiid riled up Bucks fans when he named the location of one his Instagram posts as "Sh*thole," while he was playing at the Bucks' old arena, the Bradley Center in 2017. So as it turns out, Embiid's dislike for the Bucks doesn't just stem from being on the Sixers and not being fond of another Eastern Conference team. He just really doesn't like that place, apparently.

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