The NBA is investigating reports that Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid shoved a reporter after Saturday’s game, the league announced to Shams Charania of ESPN:
“We are aware of reports of an incident in the Sixers locker room tonight and are beginning an investigation.”
Word broke of an altercation earlier Saturday when Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Embiid assaulted a reporter. There was some initial confusion about whether Embiid punched the reporter because of a now deleted tweet of Pompey, but Charania later reported it was a shove, not a punch.
PHLY’s Kyle Neubeck next provided a summary of his company’s postgame showconfirming that the reporter involved was Marcus Hayes of the Philadelphia Inquirer:
“The second Joel realized he was there, got into a verbal back and forth. Obviously, we can’t repeat a lot of the words that were said on this show. The basic gist of it was basically, ‘You can say that you can say whatever you want about me as a player. don’t put my dead brother’s name in your mouth. don’t bring them into this. you want to talk to me like a man me about basketball, that’s different, but if you ever talk about my family again, we’re going to be in real trouble.
“They’re going back and forth and at some point, let’s say 90 seconds to two minutes into this back and forth, Joel pushes him. Team security steps in. Players kind of surround the situation and everybody sort of splits up.”
At issue is a recent column by Hayes about Embiid’s injury issues, which received widespread criticism for referencing Embiid’s son and late brother. The column was written in reaction to Embiid not being ready for the season, with the Sixers citing a left knee issue. The Sixers were later fined $100,000 for their public statements about Embiid’s health.
The head of Hayes’ column:
“Joel Embiid consistently points to the birth of his son, Arthur, as the most important turning point in his basketball career. He often says that he wants to be great in order to leave a legacy for the boy named after his little brother, who tragically died in a car accident. when Embiid was in his first year as a 76er.
“Well, to be great at your job, you first have to show up for work. Embiid has been great at the exact opposite. Now in his 11th season, he’s been consistently in bad shape. This poor conditioning seems to have delayed his debut this season.”
Hayes later deleted that first paragraph, explaining in a tweet that he “can see why so many people were upset about it. Sorry about that.“Arthur Embiid died in a car accident in Cameroon in 2014.
One person who didn’t buy into that apology was Embiid, who lashed out at Hayes while speaking to reporters on Friday:
“If your body doesn’t react well and if your body tells you one thing – I did it. From what I can tell you, I broke my face twice, I came back early at the risk of losing my vision, had broken fingers, I’m still back. So I’m not going to sit here and be like — I see people saying, ‘He doesn’t want to play.’ I’ve done way too much for this city to put me at risk for people to say that. I do think it’s bulls***.
“Like that guy, he’s not here, Marcus, whatever his name is, I’ve done way too much for this f***ing town to be treated like this. Done way too much. I wish I was as lucky as others, but that doesn’t mean I don’t try and do whatever it takes to be out there, which I will be soon enough.”
Looks like that wasn’t the end of it.
