Embiid attacks journalists: Foul, suspension, investigation: Injured NBA giant causes big trouble

Embiid attacks journalists
Foul, suspension, investigation: Injured NBA giant causes big trouble

November 7, 2024, 3:36 p.m

Superstar Joel Embiid has to watch three times. The NBA banned him after a physical attack on a member of the media; it is not the first trouble surrounding the Philadelphia 76ers star. The fans are angry because Embiid is still missing and the start of the season went badly wrong.

Considering that Joel Embiid hasn’t been on the floor for a second, his season record reads spectacularly. A technical foul, a suspension and two personal investigations, the NBA superstar makes one headline after the next as an invalid. An inglorious highlight, at least so far: a penalty because the 30-year-old pushed a journalist in the dressing room of his Philadelphia 76ers.

The reporter questioned Embiid’s professionalism in an article, but also wrote about his deceased brother and son. He would have to “live with the consequences” if he reported on the two again, Embiid said during the confrontation to the media representative, who removed passages from his column because of the furore surrounding it. The basketball player declined an apology offered, saying he didn’t really care about statements from reporters. Oh well.

It’s all too much for the league, the native of Cameroon has to watch three times – at the earliest next Tuesday against the New York Knicks, if his knee problems allow it, Embiid can make his season debut. For the missed games, the MVP of the 2022/23 season will receive no salary and, according to ESPN, will lose more than a million dollars. “Mutual respect is of the utmost importance to the relationship between players and media in the NBA,” emphasized NBA Vice President Joe Dumars in explaining the verdict.

In September, Embiid received a new three-year contract worth $193 million with the Sixers. “Philadelphia is my home,” the Cameroon native wrote on Instagram at the time, but the US Olympic champion now sounds completely disillusioned. “I have done far too much for this damn city to be treated like this,” Embiid recently said because of the reporting. It’s also “bullshit” if people think he doesn’t want to play. The fans are angry because Embiid is still missing and the start of the season went badly wrong.

The club also had to pay recently. $100,000, because of Embiid, but not because of his mistakes. According to the league, the Sixers had made contradictory statements about the health of their star player. Sequel follows.