Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has been suspended for three games without pay by the NBA for shoving a reporter during an altercation in the Sixers’ locker room Saturday night, the league announced Tuesday.
“Mutual respect is paramount to the relationship between players and media in the NBA,” Joe Dumars, the league’s executive vice president, head of basketball operations, said in a statement. “While we understand Joel was offended by the personal nature of the original version of the reporter’s column, interactions must remain professional on both sides and can never turn physical.”
Embiid’s suspension will begin Wednesday when the 76ers face the LA Clippers. He will be eligible to return for a home game Nov. 12 against the New York Knicks, the Sixers’ first NBA Cup game of the season. (They play at the Lakers on Friday and at home Sunday against Charlotte.)
The incident between Embiid and Marcus Hayes, a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer who has repeatedly criticized the Sixers center for sitting out games, occurred after the Sixers’ 124-107 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. Embiid objected to one Hayes column, written Oct. 23, that originally included references to Embiid’s son and brother, Arthur, who died in a car crash in 2014 at age 13. Embiid’s 4-year-old son is named Arthur, after his brother. (Those references have since been removed from the piece).
Hayes did not respond physically to Embiid’s shove, a team source said, and an NBA spokesman said Saturday the league was investigating the incident.
“When I see people saying, ‘He doesn’t want to play,’ … I’ve done way too much for this city, putting myself at risk, for people to be saying that. So I do think it’s b——-,” Embiid told reporters Friday, one day before the incident with Hayes. “… I’ve done way too much for this f—— city to be treated like this.”
Embiid has a long history of injuries, including orbital fractures, ankle issues, a torn thumb ligament and a variety of knee issues including a torn meniscus. He has not played this season due to what the Sixers are calling “left knee injury management.” Before the season started, the Sixers made public comments on their plans to rest Embiid during back-to-back games to keep him healthy for the postseason. In his eight-year career, the 30-year-old center has never played more than 68 games in a regular season and has averaged 54 games played per season.
Philadelphia sitting Embiid for its nationally televised season opener Oct. 23 against the Milwaukee Bucks prompted the NBA to launch an investigation. The league fined the Sixers organization $100,000 on Oct. 29 for “inconsistent” statements surrounding Embiid’s health status.
As The Athletic reported on Tuesday, the Sixers had been hopeful Embiid would be ready for his regular-season debut as soon as Wednesday’s game at the LA Clippers. He recently began practicing in five-on-five action, worked out extensively before the game Monday against the Phoenix Suns and was scheduled to take part in individual workouts Tuesday in Los Angeles that would have set the stage for what came next. Instead, with the Sixers already reeling, they’ll now have to wait even longer for their former MVP to be back on board.
The Sixers sit in 14th place in the Eastern Conference with a 1-5 record. With Embiid out, their major offseason addition, nine-time All-Star Paul George, missed the first five games of the season with a left knee bone bruise sustained in a preseason game Oct. 14. He returned Monday against Phoenix.
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