Joel Embiid is no villain for shoving columnist in 76ers locker room
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Embiid wasn’t wrong to be mad at a local columnist for what he wrote
Joel Embiid still hasn’t played a game for the Philadelphia 76ers to start the 2024-25 season, and it’s created a non-stop feeling of anxiety around the team. Embiid is officially listed as out with “left knee injury management.” Embiid was a full participant at practice on Friday, but was again in street clothes on Saturday night, as the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Sixers to drop Philly to 1-4 on the season.
Embiid cussed out and shoved local columnist Marcus Hayes for bringing up his son and deceased brother in a recent story calling out Embiid for sitting out games. Here’s Shams Charania’s initial report of the incident:
“Joel Embiid got into a physical altercation, shoving a columnist in the postgame locker room tonight.” @ShamsCharania on Joel Embiid and the NBA’s investigation into the incident on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/p2z3nJqrEY
It’s unacceptable for there to ever be a physical altercation between an NBA player and the media. Embiid shouldn’t have shoved Hayes. Still, as Hayes’ strange and inappropriate column has circulated, most fans are taking Embiid’s side.
Kyle Neubeck of PHLY provided more details of exactly what happend inside the locker room. This is the best account of the confrontation between Embiid and Hayes:
Here’s the legend @KyleNeubeck from @PHLY_Sports. He was in the locker room, explaining what happened w/ Joel Embiid and the reporter.
Full 5 minutes is worth listening to for context.
(my take is simple: don’t bring up a dude’s family to take a shot at him for being hurt) pic.twitter.com/ufintHbsd4
Here’s the part of Hayes’ recent column that angered Embiid. Embiid’s brother Arthur died in a car accident in Cameroon in 2014, and he gave his son the same name to honor his brother. There is just no reason to ever bring this up in a column about Embiid’s lack of availability this season.
This is what Marcus Hayes wrote in a column last week that Joel Embiid took umbrage with.
The NBA is investigating the incident. Embiid’s former teammate Jason Richardson came to his defense on social media:
This article by Marcus Hayes about @joelembiid is truly heartless. I was teammates with Joel when he received the devastating news about his brother’s passing and it’s shocking 2 see this tragedy exploited by Marcus to negatively sensationalize Joel’s reasons for not playing SMH!
listen, man im a journalist and will almost always side with a joirno. and i almost tweeted i cant believe marcus hayes actually wrote that but it’s marcus hayes so of course he did. he got off lucky with a push. and as an editor, who the HELL published that. do your job. https://t.co/GsiHeDtR53
An editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer should have never allowed that column to run with references to Embiid’s brother and son. It’s hard to blame Embiid for being upset, especially at a reporter who has a long history of being an ass.
The 76ers can just never be a normal franchise. Despite all the consternation about Embiid’s injury, the stakes of this season have never really changed for Philly.
The Sixers need Embiid healthy for the playoffs. They don’t need him to win MVP or make an All-NBA team. The league obviously wants healthy players to play in games for paying fans. It’s a delicate balance for the Sixers, who were probably a little too transparent about their plan to save Embiid for the playoffs during their pre-season comments.
If Embiid is available and playing at his top level in the postseason, the Sixers will have a chance to make a run in the Eastern Conference. Everyone knows he’s one of the best players in the world. At this point, he can’t prove anything new in the regular season. The Sixers are going to need him on the court soon just to make the playoffs, but in an eternal 82-game regular season, a slow start still leaves them plenty of time to play catch up.
Embiid wasn’t wrong to be mad at Hayes for what he wrote. Hopefully the league takes that into consideration before deciding on their punishment.