Did Joel Embiid really catch a ball at the Home Run Derby?

There are many questions at the Home Run Derby — how far can Aaron Judge hit a ball? How many home runs can Aaron Judge hit? Why is Aaron Judge the greatest human being of all time?

But there was one question that remained unanswered throughout the night:

Did Joel Embiid catch a ball at the Home Run Derby?

It’s an answer that remained elusive, even after the Derby ended. We know the Philadelphia 76ers player was there to have a good time, but did he really catch a ball, as he claimed on Twitter?

We decided to investigate, so here’s a breakdown of the evidence.

We know Embiid was at the Home Run Derby — that much is clear from the above picture. We also know he attended with rapper Meek Mill, pictured with Embiid below:

We also know that Embiid CLAIMS he caught a baseball at some point during the night. Is this possible? Sure, plenty of balls get hit into the stands. But we also know, through video evidence, that while Embiid had a chance to catch the ball, he probably did not.

As in many successful investigations, there IS video evidence in this case. Unbeknownst to Embiid and Meek Mill, they were being recorded when they tried and failed to catch one of the home run shots (this was a nationally televised event, after all).

Check out the crucial clip:

Ooph. That’s pretty embarrassing, especially when you consider how much taller Embiid is than everyone else in the stands. With that much of a height advantage, how could he let the ball escape?

It’s that embarrassment that probably led to Embiid trying to claim on social media that he had caught not just one, but TWO balls.

A likely story, a likely story, Joel.

While we obviously want to believe that Embiid is capable of catching a ball in the stands — he is a professional athlete — all the video evidence points to the contrary. Surely, if Embiid, a famous basketball player, and Meek Mill, a once-notable rapper, had caught a ball at the Home Run Derby, someone would have filmed it. But instead, we just have an embarrassing video of the duo missing.

It seems more likely that fans GAVE these balls to Embiid in a conspiracy to help him save face on social media. But as he should have known — the truth always comes out.

Naturally, Embiid spent the rest of the night trying to get the Judge on his side...

Well, he’s right about one thing at least!