The NBA is investigating reports that Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid shoved a reporter after Saturday’s game, the league announced to ESPN’s Shams Charania:
“We are aware of reports of an incident in the Sixers locker room this evening and are commencing an investigation.”
Word broke about an altercation earlier Saturday when Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Embiid had assaulted a reporter. There was some initial confusion about whether Embiid punched the reporter due to a now-deleted tweet by Pompey, but Charania later reported it was a shove, not a punch.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne said Embiid shoved the reporter in the shoulder and briefly walked back to his locker, then left.
Charania also mentioned Embiid took issue with a recent column referencing his son and late brother, which points to the reporter involved being Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes, who received widespread criticism for referencing Embiid’s son and late brother in a column about the Sixers center’s frequent injury issues.
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 lede of Hayes’ column:
“Joel Embiid consistently points to the birth of his son, Arthur, as the major inflection point in his basketball career. 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. Now in his 11th season, he consistently has been in poor condition. This poor conditioning apparently seems to have delayed his debut this season.”
Hayes later had that first paragraph removed, 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 crash in Cameroon in 2014.
One person who did not accept that apology was Embiid, who blasted Hayes while speaking with reporters a week later:
“If your body doesn’t react well and if your body tells you one thing — I’ve done it. From what I can tell you, I’ve broken my face twice, I came back early with the risk of losing my vision, had broken fingers, I still came 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 putting myself at risk for people to be saying that. I do think it’s bulls***.
“Like that dude, he’s not here, Marcus, whatever his name is, I’ve done way too much for this f***ing city to be treated like this. Done way too f***ing much. I wish I was as lucky as other ones, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not trying and doing whatever it takes to be out there, which I’m gonna be pretty soon.”
That appears to have not been the end of it.