According to sources, Joel Embiid shoves the columnist in the 76ers locker room; NBA should investigate the incident

By David Aldridge, Tony Jones and Sam Amick

Philadelphia 76ers star center Joel Embiid shoved a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist in the Sixers locker room Saturday night, multiple league sources confirmed The athlete. The physical altercation occurred after Embiid and columnist Marcus Hayes argued following Philadelphia's 124-107 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Hayes, a longtime columnist for the Inquirer and previously the Philadelphia Daily News, recently wrote a column that Embiid viewed as personally disparaging toward him and his family, which Embiid expressed to reporters after practice Friday.

In part, Embiid said he had “done way too much for this damn city to be treated like this.” The Oct. 23 column in question was about Embiid's son and brother Arthur, who died in a car accident in 2014 at age 13, a tragedy that Embiid said multiple times almost forced him to be involved to stop playing basketball. Embiid's 4-year-old son is named Arthur after his brother.

Embiid has yet to play in a game this season that began with a 1-4 start without Embiid and star forward Paul George, including Saturday's loss.

Hayes went to the game on Saturday and entered the team's locker room after the game ended. Embiid sought him out and their conversation soon deteriorated.

According to a team source, Hayes did not physically respond to Embiid's push.

An NBA spokesman said Saturday: “We are aware of reports of an incident in the Sixers' locker room this evening and are conducting an investigation.”

Embiid's playing status this season was a constant source of conversation and frustration for the team and the seven-time All-Star, who was injured in every postseason in recent years, which was a reason the franchise didn't make it out of the second round of the season playoffs during his tenure. Embiid and the 76ers have been working on a possible plan for the center to play in the regular season but play fewer games to try to keep him healthy for the postseason.

Embiid underwent surgery on his left knee last February, which sidelined him for much of the second half of the 2023-2024 regular season. He returned for a first-round playoff series against the New York Knicks and was clearly limped throughout the series. The Knicks won it in six games.

But Embiid played for Team USA at the Paris Olympics this summer, serving as the starter and appearing healthy. However, mild swelling in his knee was discovered during the 76ers' training camp and Embiid has since been shelved.

Hayes has written several columns in the last week sharply criticizing Embiid. He blamed him for his poor conditioning early in the season after competing in the Olympics and criticized Embiid for his numerous absences over the years.

“The level of contempt Embiid has for his organization, his industry and especially the fans who pay him all his money is absolutely astounding,” Hayes wrote in an Oct. 23 column in the Inquirer. “Because fans buy the tickets and fans watch TV and fans buy the products advertised on TV. Embiid's part of the deal is to come over and play basketball. But he doesn't even bother to be in good enough shape to keep that part of the deal.

It's an incredible dereliction of duty. This is completely unacceptable.”

In the early versions of the column, Hayes wrote the following:

“Joel Embiid always points out that the birth of his son Arthur was the most important turning point in his basketball career. He often says he wants to be great, to leave a legacy for the boy named after his little brother, who was tragically killed in a car accident when Embiid was in his first year as a 76er.”

This paragraph was excerpted from later versions of the online column.

Last Wednesday, after the NBA fined the 76ers $100,000 for making “inconsistent” statements from the team about Embiid's health, Hayes criticized Embiid again. Hayes suggested the team offer refunds to fans who had purchased tickets in good faith for home games this season, but then learned that Embiid would likely miss several games during the year to avoid playing back-to-back games.

“Furthermore, it is highly unlikely that Embiid will play in all subsequent home games, even if they are not back-to-back; After all, he has missed 46 percent of regular-season games since the Sixers drafted him in 2014,” Hayes wrote. “So you can assume that he will miss ten home games, none of them due to injury. That’s about 25 percent of what each full-time cardholder paid.”

On Friday, Hayes criticized Embiid again after Embiid pushed back, saying he had “done way too much for this damn city to be treated like that, so I've done way too much.”

Go deeper

Joel Embiid to critics: 'I've done way too much for this damn city'

In his column Friday, Hayes acknowledged Embiid's MVP award as well as his contributions to the franchise, saying Embiid “could end up being the best player in franchise history.” But unlike Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Moses Malone and Allen Iverson, to name a few, Embiid's teams failed to advance past the second round of the playoffs. And while Embiid has struggled with injuries and illness in the postseason, he's not the only one. Here’s a thought: Be in better shape when the playoffs come around and it won’t be as hard to play with injuries that pop up.”

Embiid, 30, is in his 10th season with the Sixers, who drafted him No. 3 in 2014. He missed his first two NBA seasons due to a right foot injury, surgery, and a re-injury to his foot. But he started coming into his own in his third professional season and hasn't looked back since. He became the face of the Sixers' controversial rebuilding plan, which became known as “The Process.”

In eight seasons, Embiid has averaged 27.9 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 433 regular-season games. However, he suffered from lower body injuries throughout his career, many of which occurred either late in the regular season or in playoff series.

After the Sixers publicly commented on their plan to keep Embiid out of back-to-back games this season and then retained him for a nationally televised game against Milwaukee on Oct. 23, the NBA launched an investigation that ultimately confirmed the concerns his left knee.

Go deeper

The NBA fined the 76ers for misrepresenting Embiid's absence

If the league had found out that Embiid was actually healthy and the Sixers had decided to prioritize the playoffs and routinely rest him during the regular season, then the league's hammer would certainly have fallen hard. But league sources said so The athlete that Embiid's left knee was so unstable in the eyes of the NBA and the Sixers that there were concerns of further damage had he played in those opening games of the regular season.

The league still fined the 76ers $100,000, but that was because of the public statements.

Required reading

(Photo: Justin Casterline/Getty Images)