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Jahlil Okafor’s Distraction Is Beginning To Be A Problem

Josh Wilson|

Jahlil Okafor‘s recent street fight has caused a lot of distraction to the team, and is a growing problem.

I’m writing this post with a little bit of regret about Jahlil Okafor, and the impact the past few days has had on his young career so far and how he may be a problem to the Philadelphia 76ers.

After a loss to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday, the young star went out to a club in Boston, and got into a fight with a Celtics fan, who had reportedly been harassing him all night, even at the game. This was plastered all over TMZ the next day, and was a big issue in Sixers world.

Okafor was remorseful when he next spoke to media, and seems to have learned a lesson about self-control, but recent reports seem to say otherwise. This “first incident” all of a sudden turned into a second happening.

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Keith Pompey of Philly.com reported that back in October, Okafor had a gun pulled on him at a night club, and pointed at his head. This brings up a few issues. For one, this fight in Boston is clearly not the first incident of night-life for Okafor. Secondly, it just goes to show that as fans, we don’t know everything that goes on, so maybe these are just two incidents out of many that occurred.

I’m not suggesting we go on a witch hunt into Okafor’s personal life, because that would only make the issue worse. But it’s worth noting that this isn’t the first case of club life.

Then on Saturday, Howard Eskin reported that Okafor has had a traffic violation on the Benjamin Franklin bridge as well.

On top of all of this, the Sixers apparently told him to stay out of night clubs following his run-in in October on Walnut street, and he’s not listening.

If if this is true–which I have a hard time believing, because head coach Brett Brown has recently been vocal about not having a curfew–it’s troubling.

On top of that, a large portion of Eskin’s point is that it would be illegal for Okafor to go into clubs at 19, which is simply not true. Yes, some clubs do have an age requirement of 21, but a lot of them are open to people that are 18, and in some rare cases, even as young as 16, even in Philadelphia. Soundgarden Hall allows anyone over 18 in. The issue still is there, of course, if Okafor is getting alcohol as a 19 year old, but that lies as much of an issue on the club, who is serving it to an underage.

All of these issues certainly raise concern with the 19 year old. Is he making smart decisions? He’s certainly playing well, but with the way he’s living, is he subjecting himself to off court issues?

Time will only tell, really, but right now the situation is noise to the team, and that’s unhealthy. Having to deal with this drama is a problem.

Next: Sixers Make Unfortunate History

Hopefully Okafor really has learned. He’s 19, and has room to mature. Knowing where he should be, and when he should be places is important. Okafor is learning the hard way, but learning nonetheless.