The NBA has fined the Philadelphia 76ers $100,000 for public statements about the health status of the franchise’s star center Joel Embiid.
The league explained that the 76ers didn’t violate player participation policy with Embiid’s missed games.
“The league’s investigation also confirmed that Embiid has been unable to play in the 76ers’ regular season games this season due to a left knee condition, and therefore his games missed have not violated the Player Participation Policy,” the statement said.
But said that the issue was about comments made by president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and coach Nick Nurse that were “inconsistent with Joel Embiid’s health status and in violation of NBA rules, including the league’s Player Participation Policy.”
It is interesting the NBA didn’t mention anything about the comments from Embiid himself. Recently, publicly declared that he “probably won’t” play in back-to-back for the rest of his career.
The big man played in just 39 regular season games last year, but still managed to make his Olympic debut for Team USA.
Embiid is the highest paid player on the team’s roster as well, making $51,415,938 for the 2024-25 season. New recruit Paul George isn’t far behind him, as he’s making $49,205,800 in his first season with the Sixers.
Unfortunately for Philly, neither Embiid nor PG-13 have played a single game to start the year as Embiid continues to manage his left knee injury, while George dealing with a bone bruise in his left knee.
It may be all down to young star Tyrese Maxey to carry the team, if the older All-Star vets continue to battle through injury and let’s be real, they probably will.
Embiid has never had a healthy playoff run in his entire career. Earlier this month, he told ESPN he lost 25 to 30 pounds over the summer and intends to make it to the postseason in good health.
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