Joel Embiid avoids courtside collision by leaping over actress Regina King
Regina King will be starring in a TV series based on a comic book later this year, but Joel Embiid was the one who looked like a superhero Wednesday night.
The Philadelphia 76ers star leaped over the “Watchmen” actress in a single bound as she sat courtside during the team’s game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
With the 76ers up by 15 in the third quarter, Embiid went hard after a loose ball heading out of bounds and took to the air to avoid any kind of collision with King.
“I only know one way to play and that’s to play hard and compete,” Embiid said of why he didn’t pull up earlier.
The two-time All Star’s shoe appears to make contact with the bun of hair atop King’s head. Otherwise, she seems to have emerged from the incident unscathed.
“Thank you God and @JoelEmbiid for your athletic abilities,” tweeted King, who is nominated for an Oscar for her role in “If Beale Street Could Talk.” “Crisis averted.”
An MSG Network statistician sitting behind King wasn’t as lucky. After landing on the poor guy, who appeared to be unharmed, Embiid helped him up and later apologized for the unintended outcome.
“It’s good that I saved [Kings’] life, I guess, but someone else had to, like, take that,” Embiid said following the 76ers’ 126-111 win. “I’m sorry about that.”
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