Why are 76ers facing $100,000 fine? Looking at NBA's stance on Joel Embiid amid absence
The Philadelphia 76ers have been punished by the NBA for their statements regarding Joel Embiid's health. The league fined the franchise $100,000 for violating league rules, a press release read on Tuesday.
This came days after the league launched an investigation into the decision of resting the star for the first week of the 2024-25 NBA season for "left knee injury management."
The press release says that the team wasn't punished for the action of resting Embiid, but for the statements that president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and head coach Nick Nurse made about the 2023 MVP's status.
The inconsistencies regarding his health status from the executive and the coach prompted the league to fine the team.
“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 NBA’s statement reads.
Embiid is yet to play a minute in the 2024-25 season after resting the entire first week of competition. Following a dream summer that included a gold medal with Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the the big man and his team decided to be as careful as possible with this injury.
The problem was that, while he has reasons to stay inactive, the comments made by Morey and Nurse seemingly raised eyebrows within the league, resulting in this fine.
Former NBA executive Bobby Marks notes that a $100K fine is the standard for the initial violation of player participation policy. The second one would be $250K for Philadelphia or any other team violating this rule.
How did 76ers fare without Joel Embiid on the court?
The Philadelphia 76ers didn't have the best start to the season, beginning with a 124-109 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the season opener.
They were defeated by the Toronto Raptors, 115-107, in the second duel of the season before bouncing back against the Indiana Pacers, 118-114, on Sunday.
Tyrese Maxey has taken over for the Sixers, even dropping 45 points against the Pacers. Neither Paul George nor Embiid played in the first three matchups, which is already concerning for fans.
They won't be available for Wednesday's game against the Detroit Pistons either but will be re-evaluated later this week. If everything goes well, they could be ready to face the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.