Sixers’ T.J. McConnell recalls how Joel Embiid and his wife ‘fought almost to the death over a board game’

Playing a board game with Joel Embiid is exactly how you’d imagine it.

In a Players' Tribune article written by T.J. McConnell, the Sixers' point guard recounts a story from last season when his wife, Valerie, got into an intense battle over a board game while both players were out with injuries.

Here’s the excerpt:

"We ended up having the greatest night.

And by “we ended up having the greatest night,” do I mean, “I had a nice, relaxing evening watching the game on Joel’s huge projector screen, while Joel and my lovely wife FOUGHT ALMOST TO THE DEATH over a board game??” Yeah, that’s what I mean.

I think the last words spoken before we left his apartment were Joel — with my wife standing there, just fuming — yelling out, ‘Nah, you lost. You lost fair and square. Fair AND square. Ask around. I’ve never lost. NEVAAAA.’"

McConnell also told stories about how he air-balled a jump shot while the 2015-16 Sixers were losing by 40-something to the Spurs, how Allen Iverson put his arm around the young point guard and assured him everything would be alright, and about the time JJ Redick suggested that we’re living in a simulation.

“Like how do you explain that we’ve never run into aliens?? We’re hanging around with all these millions of stars…. millions of solar systems…. and we’ve never crossed up with an alien even one time?? So this theory goes, maybe it’s because an alien is running our simulation.”

You can read McConnell’s full article here.