NBA to investigate Joel Embiid alleged punch on reporter

Following the Philadelphia 76ers loss to the Memphis Grizzlies last night to drop the team's record to 1-4, their star center Joel Embiid who has yet to play on the season reportedly got into a heated altercation with a reporter. Embiid took exception to a recent column by Marcus Hayes, a Philadelphia reporter.

“The next time you bring up my dead brother and my son again, you are going to see what I’m going to do to you and I’m going to have to … live with the consequences,” Embiid said to Hayes.

Embiid continued, with several instances of profanity in the next few sentences. Hayes offered an apology, which Embiid did not want. “That’s not the f——— first time.” Embiid said.

Embiid later said that he doesn’t care what reporters say. “But you do,” Hayes answered.

A team security person asked the media not to report on what had happened. Embiid yelled over the security guard.

“They can do whatever they want,” Embiid said. “I don’t give a s—-.”

It should be noted that when the altercation was initially reported it was called an "assault" and that fellow Philadelphia reporter Keith Pompey emphasized that Embiid punched Hayes. Pompey later changed that "punch" to a "shove." Not sure if that edit was due to a request by 76ers staff or Pompey decided on his own that it wasn't a punch.

"Shove" seems to be what the media has gone with since then, or even watered down to "push." Here is what Hayes' wrote that set off Embiid:

It does seem in poor taste to connect Embiid's family matters with his conditioning and availability. We're living in an NBA era where beat reporters tend to be quite soft on their team's players, so while it is refreshing to see Hayes call out Embiid for the aforementioned conditioning and availability, he could have gotten the same point across withou the family tie-in.

The guess here is once the NBA investigation is complete they will determine that Embiid "pushed" or "shoved" Hayes and there was no punch, regardless if there was one or not. Once Embiid is physically ready to make his NBA debut, expect the former MVP to have to remain sidelined for at least another game due to a suspension. This will a sidelined game with some consequences as it will involve the loss of pay.


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