The NBA suspended Joel Embiid three games without pay Tuesday for shoving Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes on Saturday.
In writing about Embiid’s lack of court time, which had already cost his team a $100,000 league fine, Hayes said in a since-deleted portion of his 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.”
Following Saturday’s 124–107 loss to Memphis, Embiid confronted Hayes in the locker room. “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 told Hayes, who tried to apologize, but Embiid told him, “That’s not the fucking first time.” The player then made “contact with Hayes’ neck and collarbone area” and shoved him, according to the Inquirer. While team security asked other journalists in the room to refrain from reporting on the incident, Embiid said “they can do whatever they want” and he doesn’t “give a shit.”
“Mutual respect is paramount to the relationship between players and media in the NBA,” league EVP and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars 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.”
The league launched an investigation into the incident shortly after it happened, but it’s not the first league probe into the team and Embiid this season. The league was reportedly looking into the team’s plan to have the star sit out three games for “left knee injury management” before games even started.
NBA players are docked 1/145th of their base compensation for each game they are suspended (under 20 games), according to the league’s collective bargaining agreement. Embiid has a base salary of $51 million this year, so his punishment for three games comes out to about $1 million.
A representative for the team did not immediately return a request for comment.
