Joel Embiid Blindsided by 76ers Decision, Raising Questions About Team Communication
Jan 5, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) looks on after falling to the court with guard Vj Edgecombe (77) during the fourth quarter against the Denver Nuggets at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
On Friday night, after an incredibly important home win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, a win that got the Philadelphia 76ers firmly back into the playoff conversation, the attention after the game turned to something that happened in their statement win over the Washington Wizards, and why Joel Embiid did not play in the game.
This drama started on Monday, when, after the loss to the Miami Heat, Embiid told reporters postgame that he was playing through an illness, but had not been listed on the team’s injury reports leading up to the game. In that game, he played well, leading the Sixers with 26 points, playing 34 minutes despite being on the mend. Fast forward to Wednesday, and Embiid wasn’t on the injury report before the Wizards game, which was in line with what Embiid had told reporters on Monday night. That is, until President of Basketball Operations, Daryl Morey, got involved.
Before the game, the team changed the scheduled shootaround to a film study session. Embiid sent a tweet stating he was playing, in response to reports that he was out for Wednesday night.
Roughly three hours later, he put up another tweet, completely throwing a monkey wrench in the whole story about his availability for the game on Wednesday.
So now that you have the lore, we can discuss his comments after the Timberwolves game, which ignited a firestorm.
After the win on Friday night against Minnesota, where he put in 19 points and 13 rebounds to go along with his 7 assists, Embiid didn’t hold back when asked about what happened on Wednesday night and where the confusion was.
“I was pissed off,” Embiid said. “I wanted to play basketball. I wasn’t allowed to play basketball. So I think this is more of a question for Daryl Morey and whoever makes the decisions.
“I think going into Miami, I was pretty sick. But I understood how important that game was and still wanted to give us a chance to go out there and try to do something, because of how important the game was. Same thing. Felt a little bit better going to Washington, definitely much better than I felt against Miami. Woke up – didn’t sleep until probably 5:00 in the morning or 6:00. So with that, couldn’t make it to shoot-around, and then after that, I found out online that I wasn’t playing that night. So yeah, that kind of caught me off guard and, yeah, that pissed me off. But then again, I guess they make the decisions, so it doesn’t matter what I think or not. I’ve just got to follow.
“But, yeah, to answer your question, that’s more of a question for Daryl and them. So, yeah, they’ve got to – yeah. I don’t know what’s going on. I just want to play basketball.”
This statement shows just how blindsided Embiid was, and learning that he wasn’t playing from a public tweet from someone not associated with the team definitely got under his skin. This seems to be either a miscommunication or a lack of communication from the team to one of its most important players. On one hand, you never want your star player to find out they’re out of a game from social media. That definitely sends the wrong message. On the other hand, we have definitely become fatigued by the reports about Embiid’s health and availability, particularly over the last two seasons.
This has been an issue for a while, and it even led to the team getting a $100,000 fine earlier this season for initially listing Embiid out for a game and then listing him as questionable past the NBA’s mandate of final roster decisions being in thirty minutes before tip-off. This lack of transparency in Embiid’s availability is wearing on fans who just want to see Embiid play, and you can gather that he wants to play based on his statement on Friday.
In addition to Embiid saying he wants to play, he also brought many questions to the table as well. The most frequent question is asking why he was surprised, and learning online that he wasn’t playing on Wednesday. That didn’t feel like a player being sick; that looked more like a punishment than a direct result of the illness from playing against Minnesota. We may never know the truth about this because the only ones who know are the Sixers front office and Embiid himself, and if this situation tells us anything, Embiid might not even be a solid resource there.
Another frequent question has been why would a front office that has to go to incredible lengths to give Embiid more of a say in his health than any other team, all of a sudden rule him out of a game in the middle of a tense playoff push without telling him?
Make no mistake, Morey has been instrumental in keeping Embiid here. He’s had to clean up the mess of the “Trust the Process” era, and with the team so close to a playoff berth, a year removed from having a top-three pick in the NBA draft is a testament to how well he and Nick Nurse have handled this roster.
There is something to be said about this. The Sixers have been playing well and exceeded expectations when all of the star players were out for a solid month for various reasons. Then, they began streaking once the players started to trickle back in. As the Sixers are starting to build some momentum, something like this happens. The fatigue runs deep with this kind of drama, and while it’s unclear who deserves the blame here, Morey, Embiid, or some level of both, one thing is certain: the fans don’t deserve this. We finally have something to cheer about, then this happens.
We as fans are loyal to our team, but there comes a point where we get tired of the drama, and in a season that hasn’t been punctuated with much of it, this feels out of place when looking at the entirety of the season. Is this a reason to throw up your hands and walk away? No, not even close. In previous seasons, this would be a nothing burger, but it just feels worse right now because of how remarkably drama-free this season has been. The fans have been very patient, and if nothing else, deserve clarity and honesty. It feels like both are missing from this incident, and the Sixers have to be better. Better in how it communicates with fans and better with how it communicates with the players.
Steve Hamilton
Steve may have been born in California, but don’t let that fool you. After dating a local woman and clashing with her and her family over sports for decades, he has an affinity for Philly sports. Balancing love for Philly and Bay Area sports teams may seem impossible, we can all agree that the Cowboys are the true evil.
Get New Articles Emailed Right To Your Inbox:
