Joel Embiid had the perfect response to his NBA All-Star game snub

Joel Embiid has been the NBA's best story by far this season, both on and off the court. But as fans found out Thursday night, none of that mattered to coaches in the Eastern Conference, who denied the Sixers phenom a trip to this year's All-Star game.

Because of a new voting system this season, Embiid didn't make the cut as a NBA All-Star starter last week despite receiving more fan votes than any Eastern Conference frontcourt player other than LeBron James or Giannis Antetokounmpo.

So after the reserve players, voted on by conference coaches, were announced Thursday night on TNT, Embiid posted a none-too-subtle response to not making the cut:

Just in case you didn't know, it was a reference to the recent presidential election, in which Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by some 3 million votes, but Donald Trump won the presidency by a 306-232 margin of Electoral College delegates (the official vote of electors was 304-227).

Embiid joked that the snub also means he'll be denied a date with his celebrity crush - rumored to be Canadian model Danielle Knudson - who he's said would give him the time of day only if he became an NBA All-Star:

After practice Friday morning, Embiid told the Inquirer's Keith Pompey that he's not disappointed. "I'm young, so I'm going to get a lot of chances," Embiid said.

Watch:

The Sixers offered this response to the news:

After the announcement, TNT analyst and former Sixers great Charles Barkley said he was disappointed coaches didn't reward Embiid for what he's doing for Philadelphia.

"They're the hottest team since the beginning of the year, and they have the best record in the league other than the Golden State Warriors," Barkley said. "I thought it would have been just great for what they are doing for the city of Philadelphia. … He's great for the league, and if he and Ben Simmons can stay healthy, they'll be monsters for the next 10-15 years."

Fellow TNT analyst and NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal thought that part of the reason Embiid was snubbed was the playing restrictions the Sixers have placed on him.

"Do you think he has an advantage because he gets to take games off and plays limited minutes?" O'Neal asked, disagreeing with co-host Kenny Smith's point that not playing back-to-back games can actually put a player and a team out of rhythm.

"It's called rest," O'Neal said emphatically. "Every time I had rest, I came back and had 40 [points]."

Watch the conversation below:

Sixers fans were quick to point out that coaches voted in Atlanta Hawks forward Paul Millsap to his fourth straight All-Star game and Millsap averages fewer points and blocks per game than Embiid while averaging nearly 10 more minutes per game.

There were also plenty of jokes about Embiid's political reference, which you can read in the many replies to Embiid's tweet.

Staff writer Jonathan Tannenwald contributed to this report.