BOSTON — James Harden is keenly attuned to luxury and fashion.
As for Joel Embiid, Harden’s MVP gift to his star big man Wednesday was the 29-year-old’s first Rolex watch.
“How do you wear watches?” Embiid asked.
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Harden surprised Embiid with the gift, which has “23 MVP” engraved on it, seconds after he walked out of his MVP press conference.
Embiid glowed about the 10-time All-Star guard, who earned the MVP award for the 2017-18 season.
“James is … man, I don’t even know where to start,” Embiid said. “Since he’s been here — I think he won’t tell me that — but I think he kind of made his goal for me to be the MVP.
NBA
“He’s given up a lot and obviously, I’ve always said it, he’s the best playmaker I’ve ever played with and he’s the best playmaker in probably the NBA. So he’s been helping me as far as getting me easy opportunities, whether it’s scoring the ball or just being a better basketball player on and off the court.
“He was just extremely happy for me, just like (all of the Sixers) were, and that meant a lot for me. That meant a lot to me to know that your teammates care about you as much as I care about them.”
Immediately after the the NBA announced Tuesday night that Embiid was indeed the MVP, Embiid told his teammates they had “five minutes to celebrate” before shifting their full attention back to Game 2 of their second-round playoff series against the Celtics.
So … how’d that go?
“It was lit, it was lit,” Tyrese Maxey said Wednesday morning before the Sixers’ shootaround. “We got our five minutes in! He cried. … He deserved to let those tears go, let that emotion go. We got the celebration out and we’re going to focus on Game 2 now.”
Next time he wants to keep track of five minutes, Embiid will have an MVP gift to help him.