September 27, 2016
Like a lot of people around the world, Jahil Okafor’s favorite entertainer is Will Smith. The towering 20-year-old center’s favorite Smith performance is “I Am Legend.”
On Monday night, Okafor got the opportunity to meet Fresh Prince along with the rest of his teammates. One of the perks of playing for the Sixers is that Smith, West Philadelphia born and raised, is a minority owner. And on the eve of training camp, with the team having dinner high atop the Philly skyline at One Liberty Place, Smith dropped in and offered some words of advice.
And the Sixers players came away impressed by the team’s famous co-owner.
“We already know about his accolades and how smart he is and obviously he’s an entertaining person, but it just seemed like he really wanted to be there to help us out,” Okafor said. “I just took away he’s a great person.”
The drop-in was a surprise until a few minutes before it happened. The Sixers were informed at dinner that an actor from Philadelphia was going to show up, which led Okafor to believe that it would either be Smith or Kevin Hart.
When Smith walked into the room, Nerlens Noel said he was immediately starstruck.
“It’s hard to get starstruck nowadays, but when you see Will Smith, it’s a whole different ballgame,” Noel said.
For a young Sixers team, fresh off a miserable 10-72 season, Smith had a message that was plenty applicable.
“It’s about being focused, it’s about knowing that you’re going to be knocked down, you’re going to fail,” Okafor said “That was one of the messages [Smith] shared: ‘Expect failure, but the main thing is to get back up.’”
“He was trying to explain to us how the people you have around you affect the type of person you are,” Joel Embiid said.
In addition to life lessons, Smith even shared some secrets with the Sixers about some of his upcoming projects. Unfortunately, they weren’t allowed to relay any of them back.
“I don’t even know if I can tell y’all that, but he did tell us,” Noel said.
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