Joel Embiid shoves the author of a strange column about shaming the memory of his dead brother

Hours after the Philadelphia 76ers' home loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday evening, it was announced that Sixers star Joel Embiid was out Philadelphia Investigators Columnist Marcus Hayes in some way during a locker room confrontation over a lazy, cynical piece Hayes published last week. This is the most telling statement that can be made about the interaction, as the story came to light through a series of confusing and contradictory reports that initially characterized it as an attack. It doesn't appear to be nearly as serious, but the NBA has confirmed it is investigating the matter.

“We are aware of reports of an incident in the Sixers locker room this evening and are conducting an investigation,” an NBA spokesman said. The public first became aware of this when Keith Pompey tweeted in the most outrageous way possible: “Oh man, people are going to remember the Sixers season for all the wrong reasons. The team just fell to 1-4 and Joel.” Embiid attacked a reporter in the locker room. In a deleted response to a fan who asked for clarification about what exactly Embiid did to the unnamed reporter, Pompey said Embiid “hit him.” Twenty minutes later, ESPN's Shams Charania confirmed that an “altercation” had occurred. He pointed out that Embiid disagreed with Hayes' recent statement, clarifying: “Embiid pushed the columnist. Not a punch.” Charania’s colleague Ramona Shelburne detailed that the “thrust was aimed at the reporter’s shoulder.”

The clearest report comes from PHLY Sports' Kyle Neubeck, who detailed the full series of events leading up to the shoulder bump: Embiid noticed Hayes in the locker room and confronted him in a brief back-and-forth, with Neubeack describing Embiid as having something with the effect , If you ever talk about my family again, we're going to have real problemsbefore the argument continued and Embiid shoved Hayes. An unlined ESPN story recapitulated the argument and provided further details:

“The next time you bring up my dead brother and my son again, you'll see what I'm going to do to you, and I'm going to have to… live with the consequences,” Embiid told Hayes. Embiid continued with several instances of foul language. Hayes apologized, but Embiid didn't want to. “This isn’t the damn first time,” Embiid said.

After the shove, a team security official told reporters not to report the incident, which is very funny and was correctly and immediately diagnosed as a hoax by Embiid, who said, “They can do whatever they want. I don't give a shit.”

From all the reports from the locker room, it sounds like Embiid threatened Hayes, but it doesn't sound like anyone was attacked. With that out of the way, we now need to consider what made Embiid so angry in the first place: Hayes' column. Embiid has not played this season as he struggles with a left knee injury, which resulted in his team being fined $100,000 for “public statements (…) that contradicted the law.” on Joel Embiid's health and was a violation of NBA rules.” Leave it to the Sixers to renew excessive NBA rules they are violating and leave it to a hacker like Hayes to come up with a story about a man with Julienned knee tissue trying to preserve his health for the playoffs into a story about a guy being a lazy piece of shit who doesn't dance for the fans.

The level of contempt Embiid has for his organization, his industry, and especially the fans who pay him all his money is absolutely astounding. Because fans buy the tickets, 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. It is completely unacceptable.

This is standard fare for aggrieved columnists, surrogate-level authoritarian take-blood expelled from a familiar orifice. The superstar player is an entitled, overpaid slacker is a source that these types of columnists can always draw from, as Hayes did (Ben Simmons is admittedly not the best subject to use for my case here, but Hayes called him a child, which is pretty invalid. ) What made this Hayes column special was a bizarre diversion from how Embiid's missing games essentially dishonor his dead brother's legacy:

Joel Embiid repeatedly describes the birth of his son Arthur as the decisive 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 tragically died in a car accident when Embiid was in his first year as a 76er. Well, to be great at your job, you must first show up to work.

This line has been deleted from the Hayes column. At a press conference two days after the column was published, Embiid called Hayes an idiot. “I’ve done way too much for this city and put myself at risk of people saying that,” he said. “I really think it’s nonsense. Just like this guy, he's not here, Marcus, whatever his name is. I've done far too much for this damn city to be treated like this. Done way too damn much.” Incredibly, Hayes doubled down on Embiid's comments, calling him a selfish egomaniac who blew away the Sixers so he could pursue the individual honor of winning an Olympic gold medal in basketball, a team sport. The column is stupid – he reveals how obsessed he is with how much money Embiid makes – and it ends with Hayes writing: “Shame on him for not taking full responsibility for his actions and inaction.”

Again, his incoherence – it's bad that Joel Embiid wants to be healthy for the playoffs, a criticism I can make because he never won big in the playoffs? – the table for strange, personal things. You cannot write like that and expect anyone who is even somewhat literate, least of all the subject of your column, to respect you.