Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid sounded off Wednesday night about details of a team meeting being publicly disclosed, saying, “Whoever leaked that is a real piece of (expletive).”
After the Sixers fell to an NBA-worst 2-12, reporters asked Embiid about the Monday night meeting during which All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey called out Embiid for tardiness.
“We talked about a lot of things,” Embiid said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I don’t want to get into the details, but that whole thing (with Maxey) probably took 30 seconds. But then again, it’s Joel Embiid, so we’ve got to make everything blown out of proportion.
“It’s whatever. I’ll take it all. I’m the reason for everything, so I’ll take the blame for everything.”
The start of the season has been frustrating for the 76ers. Embiid and offseason addition Paul George both missed several games with knee injuries and then Maxey missed time with a hamstring issue.
But there was an issue with the team’s reporting of Embiid’s injury. The Sixers were fined $100,000 for violating the league’s player participation policy. The league concluded Embiid has a “left knee condition,” an indication that the Sixers had not been forthright about the status of Embiid’s knee.
Wednesday night’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies marked the first time that Embiid, Maxey and George each started in the same game. By the third quarter, George had left with a hyperextended left knee, the same injury that caused him to miss time at the start of the season.
Embiid recorded season highs in minutes played (35:04), points (35) and rebounds (11) in Wednesday’s game.
On Nov. 5, the NBA suspended Embiid three games for shoving a media member over Embiid’s displeasure with a column the person wrote. The column was critical of Embiid and referenced Embiid’s brother Arthur, who died in 2014, and Embiid’s son Arthur.
Previously, Embiid had held a press conference in October in which he lashed out at critics who said he was ducking playing time. “I’ve done way too much for this (expletive) city, putting myself at risk, for people to be saying that,” he said.
The 76ers are already 12.5 games out of first place in the Eastern Conference, though they are just four in back of the No. 6 seed, the last spot with a guaranteed playoff berth.
“It’s kind of annoying having to deal with the same things over and over and over,” Embiid said Wednesday of the coverage he gets. “It’s been like that my whole career. All I try to do is focus on basketball, and trying to make the best living for my family, on and off the court.
“But it’s unbelievable. It just feels like negativity keeps following us, which I don’t understand why. But it is a shame, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’ve still all got to be better.”
Embiid stressed Wednesday that he holds no ill will toward Maxey and vowed to improve.
“That’s the relationship we have — nothing malicious,” Embiid said. “I like when people are telling me what I’m not doing good, what I need to do better. Even though (the tardiness) maybe happened once or twice, when I wasn’t playing.
“So I need to be better. I need to be perfect. I need to be on point, which I’m going to do. Which I’ve always done.”