Joel Embiid facing NBA probe after journalist bust-up: Reports
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Joel Embiid is reported to have shoved a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, who recently wrote a commentary critical of the player.
PHOTO: AFP
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LOS ANGELES – Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid is being investigated by the National Basketball Association (NBA) after an alleged locker-room altercation with a journalist, multiple United States media reports said on Nov 2.
The Cameroonian-American centre is reported to have shoved a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, who recently wrote a commentary critical of the player, referencing the Sixers ace’s son and late brother.
“We are aware of reports of an incident in the Sixers locker room this evening and are commencing an investigation,” an NBA spokesperson was quoted by US media as saying.
Embiid, the 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player who also played in the American gold medal-winning Olympic squad this past summer in Paris, has not played at all this season.
In his absence, the Sixers have slumped to a 1-4 start, with their latest defeat coming in a 124-107 drubbing at their Wells Fargo Centre home by the Memphis Grizzlies on Nov 2.
ESPN reporter Shams Charania said following the loss that Embiid had got into a “verbal back and forth” with the journalist who had written the critical column, Inquirer writer Marcus Hayes.
“Embiid took issue with a recent column that referenced his late brother and son, and Embiid shoved the columnist. No punch,” Charania said.
In an opinion piece focusing on Embiid’s injury problems, Hayes questioned the Sixers star’s commitment to “greatness”.
“Joel Embiid consistently points to the birth of his son, Arthur, as the major inflection point in his basketball career,” Hayes wrote.
“He often says that he wants to be great to leave a legacy for the boy named after his little brother, who tragically died in an automobile accident when Embiid was in his first year as a 76er.
“Well in order to be great at your job, you first have to show up for work. Embiid has been great at just the opposite.”
Embiid reportedly was angered by the article and there were also news reports detailing what he had said to Hayes in the locker room.
According to the Associated Press, he said: “The next time you bring up my dead brother and my son again, you are going to see what I’m going to do to you and I’m going to have to... live with the consequences.”
The 30-year-old later added: “I’ve done way too much for this city to be treated like this, done way too much.
“I wish I was as lucky as other ones, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not trying and I’m not doing whatever it takes to be out there, which I’m gonna be here pretty soon.” AFP
