On Tuesday, LeBron James appeared on Pat McAfee’s show on ESPN “The Pat McAfee Show” and his words caught lots of attention between his ongoing feud with Stephen A. Smith and thoughts on the narratives surrounding older eras of the NBA. However, James’ criticism of a certain columnist caught the ears of Philadelphia 76ers fans.
When discussing the issues involving sports media, James used Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes’ confrontation with Joel Embiid earlier in the season as an example: "I've seen something with Embiid where a reporter came into the locker room and started speaking about his brother or something. How weird is that? That's so weird, why are we taking it to that point?"
What happened between Joel Embiid and Marcus Hayes?
On October 23rd, 2024, Hayes published a column in the Philadelphia Inquirer criticizing Embiid for his lack of availability and reportedly poor conditioning. While his criticism frustrated 76ers fans, matters dramatically worsened when he included Embiid’s family to boost his argument.
Hayes wrote about how Embiid said the birth of his son was a turning point in his career as he wanted to leave a legacy for his newborn. The columnist also cited the fact that Embiid named his son Arthur to honor his deceased brother who tragically passed away in a car crash during Embiid’s rookie season (2014-15), which he did not play in due to a fractured right foot.
Hayes used this information to say that for Embiid to be great and leave a legacy, he needs to suit up for Philadelphia. After the article was published, the columnist was met with widespread criticism from not only 76ers fans but the NBA community as a whole. Such disapproval seemingly influenced the Philadelphia Inquirer to remove the segment of Hayes’ column where he wrote about Embiid’s family.
Joel Embiid's response
On November 1st, 2024, Embiid spoke to the media following the 76ers following their practice session and addressed the noise surrounding him: “I’ve done way too much for this city – putting myself at risk for people to be saying that. I do think it’s bulls**t. I’ve done way too much for this f**king city to be treated like this,” via Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports.
The matter reached its climax following the 76ers’ 124-107 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on November 2nd. Shortly after the game concluded, Hayes and Embiid met face to face, which resulted in Embiid reportedly shoving Hayes and telling him “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,” via NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark.
Days later, Embiid was suspended for three games due to his confrontation with Hayes. Throughout the season, Philadelphia aggressively load-managed Embiid due to lingering discomfort in his knee, but it was to no avail as he was ruled out for the remainder of the season on February 28th. Embiid appeared in just 19 games for the 76ers this season and averaged 23.8 points per game and 8.2 rebounds per game, which are his lowest marks since the 2016-17 season.