Tanking has been the hottest topic of conversation this season. It's been so topical in fact, that the league office is currently workshopping ways to reduce tanking around the league.
What the NBA community fails to remember however, is that tanking has always existed in the league. It was so obvious in the early 1980s that the league office had to implement the draft lottery to even out the odds.
One of the more recent examples of blatant tanking was the Philadelphia 76ers ' "The Process" in the early 2010s. In theory, it worked, as they landed a host of high-end lottery picks to kickstart their rebuild. Two of those picks were highly touted big men prospects Joel Embiid and Jahlil Okafor .
Both first-rounders were supposed to be the pillars of their foreseeable success and there was a brief period when the basketball world was still deciding who would be the more accomplished pro.
According to former Sixers wing Robert Covington , that battle was happening internally at the practice facility as well, as the duo engaged in a fierce one-on-one matchup to prove who was the superior Center. As he details, it was one of the greatest one-on-one duels he ever witnessed in his career.
"People don't know this, there was a practice that we had in Stockton training camp, where this was probably the greatest battle we ever saw between two bigs, two skilled offensive bigs," he said. "Between Joel (Embiid) and Jahlil (Okafor). The footage never came out; this was never put out. But this was an exceptional thing to watch for about 10 minutes straight of literally just walking the ball up and go to work."
"Just a clinic. They said 'y'all can move, but we are here'. For ten minutes I watched the greatest one-on-one matchup battles ever. I honestly couldn't sit up here and say who won because at the time they went back-to-back-to-back. It was fierce. No one outshined each other," he revealed .
Covington's story is particularly fascinating when viewed through a 2026 lens. Okafor's journey from this legendary one-on-one battle is both incredibly telling and incredibly sad simultaneously. Telling because it highlights how talented Okafor was coming into the league, and sad because he never reached his full potential as a pro.
During Okafor's one-year college career, it was evident he was among the very best big man prospects the league had seen in quite some time.
Suiting up for Duke as a freshman, he led the Blue Devils to the 2015 NCAA National Championship, earning ACC Player of the Year honors and being selected as a unanimous All-American. He put up 17 points, eight rebounds and over a block per game while shooting 66% from the field.
His play resulted in him being drafted with the third overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft, and it seemed like the Sixers had a home run superstar on their hands. It was all the makings of a dominant cornerstone Center. Unlike other prospects in the same draft, there was far less concern about his production translating to the league.
Unfortunately, the timing couldn't have been worse for him. Okafor entered a league that was transforming rapidly, especially for big men. Seemingly overnight, the role of a traditional big man was phased out and the low-post dominance that was Jahlil's bread and butter all of a sudden had little value in the offense.
Coupled with the fact that he wasn't a strong defender, his impact as a high-caliber big man diminished quickly. His tenure in Philadelphia would last just two seasons, before short stints in Brooklyn , New Orleans and Detroit .
For fans who never had the opportunity to watch him play in college and the league, it would be easy to label him a bust. Still, Covington's story outlines just how talented he was before the league's landscape changed, leaving them stranded.
On the other side of the coin, Embiid's journey in the league couldn't have been more different. That one-on-one contest with Okafor was only the beginning, as Embiid ascended into one of the greatest Centers the NBA has ever seen.
Joel was so good so early, even with missing his first season, that the Sixers front office decided that they were more than happy to move on from Jahlil, given how much potential Embiid had.
As we know, he was crowned league MVP in 2023 and is currently a seven-time All-Star, a two-time scoring champion, a five-time All-NBA memeber and an Olympic Gold Medalist.
What's compelling to think about is that despite both Embiid and Okafor essentially starting in the exact same place in front of Convington and their teammates, they ended up on completely different sides of the NBA scales.
Their stories go to show that two players who are relatively close in age and upside can have completely opposite experiences in the league. It highlights how much success is down to not just raw talent, but also luck, a franchise's belief, opportunity and overall reputation around the league.
After the Sixers lost faith in Okafor, no one else in the Association seemed to offer him a viable opportunity to realize his potential. In contrast, Embiid was seemingly handed the keys at the first sign that he could become a special player.
To his credit, Okafor continued to fight for his NBA dreams. After stints in the G-League and overseas, he fought his way back to the league last campaign, signing with the Indiana Pacers after dominating in the G-League. The stint was short-lived and he now plays professionally in Japan, but it showed he always had the talent to make a name for himself.
No matter how their careers turned out, Covington and everyone in the gym that day will never forget how two of the best young big man prospects in the league at that time went band for band at a time when they were fighting to be the organization's number one option. And it's stories like these that make us wonder how things might have turned out differently.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Mar 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
