When you’re the third pick in the NBA draft, there are a ton of expectations.

Even with the relatively mitigated risk of the rookie wage scale, fans in the city that drafted a player are expecting some sort of return on the team’s investment in the player, and on their investment in season tickets. For young players, that can be a lot of pressure.

Now, when you’re injured and can’t help the team, that’s a different kind of pressure altogether. Yes, it’s important to heal properly, but eventually fans get impatient, especially in a cauldron like Philadelphia. What’s a young player, especially one with, say, a debilitating foot injury, to do?

Well, so far, Sixers rookie center Joel Embiid seems to have found a solution.

Embiid, who was slated to be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft (and, as it turns out, a teammate of LeBron James) before a broken foot was revealed in a redraft physical with the Cavs, has adopted the tack that if he can’t entertain and produce on the floor, then dammit, he’s going to do it in social media.

Actually, his first truly entertaining, high-profile foray on Twitter involved James. Apparently despondent over missing out on the opportunity to potentially play with him in Cleveland, Embiid tried to recruit James to Philadelphia to play with the Sixers (which would have been the ultimate test of LeBron’s greatness, for sure).

Okay, that’s maybe one of the greatest Twitter sequences by a young player ever. A 19-year-old center for arguably the worst team in the league recruiting the greatest player of the past 15 years. Awesome.

But even better than Embiid’s recruitment of LeBron might be his pivot move on Kim Kardashian and subsequent recruitment of Rihanna from this week. It started with a subtle hint….

…then the revelation that his love of Kim was going unrequited (y’know, that whole married to Kanye thing)…

….and then….

…no, they ain’t, you’re right, Joel. Also, we interrupt this shunning of Kim Kardashian to give this tweet bragging about killing wild jungle animals…..

….then this….

….and THIS….

….and THIS…..

…and updates on Rihanna’s “decision”…

…..this is definitely better than his recruitment of LeBron…..

….getting ready to go out….

….Rihanna lyrics…..

….culminates in a bartender too stingy to give our underaged rook a alcohol-less beverage.

Embiid is expected to be out for four to six months rehabbing and recovering from the broken foot. This means he will have a LOT of Twitter time on his hands. This is great news for all of us.

(Not sure if it’s great news for Rihanna, though.)

Listen to Sean Pendergast on SportsRadio 610 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays. Also, follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SeanCablinasian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=//www.youtube.com/embed/e82VE8UtW8A

This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2014.

Sean Pendergast is a contributing freelance writer who covers Houston area sports daily in the News section, with periodic columns and features, as well. He also hosts the morning drive on SportsRadio...