On Saturday, after the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 124-107, star center Joel Embiid shoved Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Marcus Hayes after a locker room altercation. The two were quickly separated before Embiid left the building, but the incident is already under investigation by the NBA.
For now, there’s no easy way to predict what sort of discipline Embiid might face. There simply isn’t precedent to fall back on. Players and reporters certainly argue, but such disputes do not have a history of turning physical. So as the league sifts through the fallout of the confrontation between Embiid and Hayes, let’s go through what happened, what we know, and what we can expect from here.
What led to the confrontation between Embiid and Hayes?
Before the 2024-25 season began, Embiid told ESPN that he was likely done playing back-to-backs. “If I had to guess,” Embiid said, “I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career.” To that point, he had not played in a preseason game, and he ultimately missed the entire preseason. He has not yet played for the 76ers this season.
In response to Embiid’s absence, Hayes wrote a story for the Inquirer on Oct. 23 entitled “Joel Embiid disrespects the Sixers, the game, its greats, and himself. Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley are right to rip him.” Embiid has faced criticism for the games he has missed due to injury for practically his entire career from both the Philadelphia media and the wider basketball world. However, this story was notable for bringing up Embiid’s family. Though it has since been edited, this is how the story began when it was initially published:
“Joel Embiid consistently points to the birth of his son, Arthur, as the major inflection point in his basketball career. He often says that he wants to be great to leave a legacy for the boy named after his little brother, who tragically died in an automobile accident when Embiid was in his first year as a 76er,” Hayes wrote.
“Well, in order to be great at your job, you first have to show up for work. Embiid has been great at just the opposite. Now in his 11th season, he has consistently been in poor condition. This poor conditioning apparently seems to have delayed his debut this season. Embiid won’t play in Wednesday’s opener or the next two games.”
The story made minor waves upon publish, but as Embiid was injured at the time, he was not required to speak to media immediately. On Friday, Nov. 1, he addressed reporters for the first time since the Hayes story was published and pushed back on it.
“Everybody has been on the same page,” Embiid said of the team’s return-to-play and injury management plan for him. “If your body doesn’t react well, and if your body tells you one thing (sit out). I’ve done it. From what I can tell you, I’ve broken my face twice, I came back early with the risk of losing my vision. I have broken fingers. I still came back. When I see people say he doesn’t want to play, I’ve done way too much for this city, putting myself at risk for people to be saying that.”
Hayes did not attend Friday’s practice. He did, however, attend Saturday’s game between the 76ers and Grizzlies.
What happened in the moment?
The most detailed first-hand accounting of the incident came from Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports.
“We go to the locker room,” Neubeck began. “Joel is seated in there. Marcus Hayes, who everyone knows was on Joel’s radar this week, gave a lengthy quote taking shots at him yesterday, Marcus was present in the locker room, and the second that Joel realized he was there, got into a verbal back and forth. Obviously we can’t repeat many of the words that were said on this show. The basic gist of it was ‘you can say I suck, you can say whatever you want about me as a player, don’t ever put my dead brother’s name in your mouth, don’t talk about my family, don’t bring them into this. You wanna talk to me like a man and talk to me about basketball, that’s different, but if you ever talk to me about my family again, we’re gonna have real problems.’ They go kind of back and forth, and at some point, let’s say 90 seconds to two minutes into this back and forth, Joel shoves him. Team security steps in. Players kind of surround the situation, and everyone kind of dispersed.”
Later reporting would fill in the blanks on what, specifically, was said. Most notably, Embiid warned Hayes not to speak about his family again. “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,” Embiid reportedly said.
At one point, Hayes offered an apology, but Embiid declined it. “That’s not the f—ing first time,” the Sixers star said. Embiid would later say that he does not care what reporters say. Hayes responded “but you do.” At that point, Embiid reportedly raised his voice, and the shove came not long after. The two were separated from there. Team security asked reporters not to report what happened between the two of them, but Embiid claimed he did not care. “They can do whatever they want,” Embiid said. “I don’t give a shit.”
What can we expect on a possible suspension?
There’s no reasonable way to predict what sort of discipline Embiid might face for this.
While it is not uncommon for disagreements to arise between players and reporters in the NBA, there has never been a known instance of such a dispute escalating to physical violence. The league has always taken a strong stance against any violence directed towards non-players within NBA venues, although the targets of such incidents have never been reporters in the past.
Historically, there have been several incidents where players have clashed with fans, resulting in suspensions. Notably, Ron Artest received a season-long ban following the infamous Malice at the Palace brawl. More recently, Patrick Beverley was suspended for four games after throwing a ball at fans and engaging in an inappropriate interaction with an ESPN producer. However, his altercation with the producer was not physical but rather centered around a podcast subscription issue.
Physical altercations between players and coaches have also occurred in the past, leading to suspensions. For example, Latrell Sprewell was suspended for a year after choking his head coach, P.J. Carlesimo. J.R. Smith was also suspended for one game for throwing soup at an assistant coach. Additionally, Matt Barnes received a two-game suspension for a confrontation with then-New York Knicks coach Derek Fisher.
While there have been instances of physical altercations between reporters and subjects in other professional sports, such as baseball and football, such incidents have not occurred in basketball. These incidents have typically not resulted in suspensions, but fines or other disciplinary actions have been taken.
Given the unique nature of the altercation between Embiid and Hayes, it is difficult to predict how the league will respond. The investigation into the incident is ongoing, and it remains to be seen what actions will be taken in this unprecedented situation. sentence to make it sound more formal: “I’m gonna need your help with this project.”
I will require your assistance with this project.