NBA fines 76ers $100K for ‘inconsistent’ public statements about Joel Embiid’s health

The NBA announced Tuesday afternoon that it has fined the Philadelphia 76ers $100,000 for making inconsistent statements regarding the health of superstar Joel Embiid. The league initially opened an investigation into the Sixers to see if they violated the player participation policy after the MVP was ruled out for the team’s first three games of the regular season. Embiid has yet to play in the regular season, and did not play in the preseason either.

Here is the league’s statement:

The NBA today fined the Philadelphia 76ers $100,000 for public statements, including by president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and head coach Nick Nurse, that were inconsistent with Joel Embiid’s health status and in violation of NBA rules, including the league’s Player Participation Policy.

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.

While the Sixers didn’t violate the player participation policy due to Embiid actually dealing with a knee injury, they did however violate the rules by not being transparent or consistent with the media about why Embiid was being held out.

The Sixers said earlier Tuesday that Embiid and Paul George would be held out of their Wednesday night game against the Pistons, and that both players would be reevaluated later this week. George suffered a hyperextended left knee during a preseason game. Embiid and George both participated in “portions” of Tuesday’s practice, the team said. 

The league’s player participation policy was implemented last season as a way to limit teams from sitting players for load management reasons. Under the new PPP, teams must ensure that:

• No more than one star player is unavailable for the same game
• Star players are available for national TV and NBA Cup games
• Maintain a balance between one-game absences for star players between road and home games
• Refrain from a long-term shutdown such that it would affect the integrity of the game
• Ensure that rested players are present and visible to fans

Teams in violation of those guidelines will be fined $100,000 for the first violation, $250,000 for the second violation and $1.25 million for a third violation. Investigations are automatically triggered when a star player misses a nationally televised game, multiple star players on the same team miss the same game or there are inconsistent statements (from a GM, coach, a player, player representative, etc.) that contradict the player’s status on the injury report.

Despite Embiid being injured, the Sixers violated the rules by making contradictory statements involving his status. While the Sixers said Embiid was undergoing an individualized recovery program for his left knee, they’ve refrained from saying exactly what the recovery plan is for, or giving any real insight or details into the particulars of Embiid’s injury.

While talking to reporters Tuesday afternoon after practice, Sixers coach Nick Nurse refused to answer questions about Embiid’s status or the recovery plan he’s going through, saying “I’m not going to answer” when a reporter tried to ask about the plan for Embiid.

Embiid and the Sixers have made public statements about being more cautious with his playing time this season, with Embiid telling ESPN that he doesn’t see himself playing in back-to-back games in his career ever again. That’s probably wise given his injury history, but it sounds as though he’s already dealing with another knee injury that has put the Sixers in a tough spot to start the season.