Did Masai Ujiri just break the news that Joel Embiid is having another kid?

Embiid has one son, Arthur, born in 2020, with his wife, Anne de Paula, who he married in 2023. But Embiid didn’t step in to deny Ujiri’s statement during a panel UN General Assembly week.

Joel Embiid is pictured with his family after receiving the NBA MVP Michael Jordan Trophy on May 5, 2023.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Gabriela Carroll

Published Sept. 24, 2024, 3:55 p.m. ET

Joel Embiid and Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri took center stage during UN General Assembly week at Prince William’s Earthshot Award Innovation Summit in New York City. The pair talked about African innovation and investing in basketball and sport for African youth.

Ujiri also accidentally broke some news on the panel.

“We need platforms, we need infrastructure for all of this to grow, and storytelling is part of it,” Ujiri said, as part of an answer about how storytelling can drive investment in Africa. “We have to make this part of our ecosystem so that more kids, more youth — Joel has a kid, he has a kid on the way. Sorry, I don’t think that’s my business. I have three kids. I think we have to pave the way for that.”

Embiid has one son, Arthur, born in 2020, with his wife, Anne de Paula, who he married in 2023. But Embiid didn’t step in to deny Ujiri’s statement on the panel, he just smiled and let Ujiri continue, despite the laughter from the crowd.

So, congrats, Joel! Ujiri didn’t share any additional information on when we might see the next baby Embiid, so it could be any day now or it could still be months away.

He also talked on a later panel with media outlet Semafor about whether he plans to push his son to play basketball.

“It’s difficult for me, because I was in a situation where I played volleyball,” Embiid said. “I don’t want to push basketball onto him, which I’m not going to do. It just happened naturally [for me], it wasn’t like I was forced, ‘I’ve got to do this.’ But then again, he makes it hard for me because I’m like, I started playing at 16 and I ended up making it, but everyone is different. You might have to start a little younger.”

Ultimately though, Embiid joked that wants his son to achieve his own childhood dream of being a professional soccer player — which he was ultimately too tall to pursue.

“I think he’s going to have some pretty good genes, so if he wants to [pursue basketball] he can,” Embiid said. “Ultimately I want him to be a Formula One driver, or a soccer player, but a Formula One driver, he’s probably going to be too tall.”