76ers News: Joel Embiid Reportedly Attacks Journalist After Philadelphia Falls to 1-4

The Philadelphia 76ers‘ best player has gotten into some off-court hot water already this year, despite not yet being able to suit up for a game.

2023 league MVP center Joel Embiid, who has been sidelined all year, got into a postgame altercation Saturday night. But the fight wasn’t with a fellow elite athlete.

After Philadelphia got walloped by the Memphis Grizzlies 124-107 Saturday in their home arena, the Wells Fargo Center, Embiid reportedly attacked a reporter in his team’s locker room, per Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Shams Charania of ESPN clarified the context and extent of the contentious moment with a follow-up tweet.

Charania noted that Embiid was apparently frustrated with the way a writer’s recent article addressed his four-year-old son and his late younger brother Arthur, who died 10 years ago in a car crash.

Per Charania, Embiid pushed, but did not punch, the columnist.

Embiid could face serious ramifications for getting into a fight, especially with a non-player. The context could play an important role for the NBA‘s legal team.

Charania reports that the league is already investigating the incident.

“We are aware of reports of an incident in the Sixers locker room this evening and are commencing an investigation,” a league spokesman informed Charania.

Further insight was gleaned in an attendant reporter’s illuminating breakdown of the escalating conversation that led to the alleged assault.

In a clip shared by The Huffington Post’s Philip Lewis, Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports took to his network’s postgame livestream to detail the incident further, indicating that Marcus Hayes of The Philadelphia Inquirer was the subject of Embiid’s ire.

“We go to the locker room. Joel is seated in there. Marcus Hayes — who everyone knows was on Joel’s radar this week, he gave a lengthy quote taking shots at him yesterday — Marcus was present in the locker room,” Neubeck said. “The second that Joel realized he was there, got into a verbal back-and-forth.”

Earlier this week, Embiid had called out Hayes and other critics for recent comments regarding his health.

Read more: 76ers’ Joel Embiid Slams Fans For Health Issue Mistreatment

Neubeck went on to detail Embiid’s alleged conversation with Hayes.

“The basic gist of it was basically, ‘You can say I suck, you can say whatever you want about me as a player. Don’t ever put my… brother’s name in your mouth. Don’t talk about my family, don’t bring them into this. You want to talk to me like a man, talk to me about basketball, that’s different. But if you ever talk about my family again, we’re gonna have real problems,'” Neubeck continued. “They go kind of back-and-forth, and at some point, let’s say, 90 seconds to two minutes into this back-and-forth, Joel shoves him. Team security steps in, players kind of surround the situation, and everyone kind of dispersed.”

The 30-year-old superstar has had an unfortunate start to his 2024-25 NBA season. Embiid is dealing with a left knee injury. He sat out the entire preseason and has missed all five of Philadelphia’s regular season games to date, after a disappointing performance with the U.S. men’s Olympic team this summer en route to his first gold medal.

Read more: Charles Barkley Shreds Joel Embiid’s Play With Team USA

One of the best players in the NBA, Embiid has been plagued by health issues through his career. He missed his first two pro seasons with injuries, and was limited to just 31 healthy games in his official rookie year, 2016-17. He has never played more than 68 games in a season, and has missed 20 or more games six times in his career already. When available, however, he’s one of the game’s greatest modern talents.

Embiid is not the only All-Star 76ers frontcourt player to miss the entire regular season so far. Nine-time All-Star Paul George, who inked a four-year, $211.6 million maximum deal, incurred a hyperextended left knee and a bone bruise in his second preseason game. He hasn’t been available since.

For the year, that’s a combined $100.6 million in player salaries sitting on the bench. So perhaps it’s not entirely surprising that their squad is struggling so much in the early offing.

Without Embiid or George, the Sixers were a mess defensively against the springier young Grizzlies on Saturday. Now 1-4 on the young season, Philadelphia allowed seven Memphis players to score in double figures, including all five starters. The club’s lone healthy All-Star, point guard Tyrese Maxey, led the 76ers in scoring with 23 points on 8-of-19 shooting from the field (4-of-9 from long range) and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line. He also dished out six dimes, swiped two steals and nabbed a pair of rebounds in 37:27.

Manning the middle against rookie Grizzlies starting center Zach Edey was former two-time All-Star center Andre Drummond, starting in Embiid’s stead. The 31-year-old vet scored just four points on 1-of-7 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 shooting from the charity stripe, while grabbing nine rebounds, passing for two assists and logging a steal.

On the year, the 6-foot-11 vet is averaging 8.5 points on 43.2 percent field goal shooting and 57.9 percent free throw shooting, 11.8 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 0.6 blocks and 0.6 dimes across 28.4 minutes per game.

Those are respectable numbers, yes, but Drummond can’t hold a candle to Embiid on either end of the hardwood. Embiid is truly a modern big man. He can defend in the paint but score from outside, and is counted on as a set-up man and distributor. Last year, when healthy, the seven-time All-Star looked like his typically terrific two-way self. In just 39 healthy games, the Kansas product averaged 34.7 points on .529/.388/.883 shooting splits, 11.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.2 steals.

Embiid’s return timeline even with the knee injury was somewhat murky. This postgame fracas could cloud that comeback a bit more.

More news: NBA Already Investigating 76ers Roster Shenanigans In First Week of Season

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