Joel Embiid dust-up reveals the pressure he and the Sixers are under

PHOENIX — Let’s skip past the latest Joel Embiid controversy for a moment.

When the Philadelphia 76ers big man made that inexcusable decision to get physical with Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes in the locker room on Saturday night, threatening and shoving him in response to a column in which the writer evoked the names of Embiid’s late brother and young son while criticizing the big man’s conditioning and inability to stay on the floor, it was merely a symptom of the much larger problem in Philly. And while the incident certainly compounded the Sixers’ early-season problems, with Embiid yet to play because of ongoing issues with his left knee and his absence now made worse by the prospect of him being suspended by the NBA amid their 1-5 start, the real root of it all is the pressure that has been building around Embiid for the better part of a decade.

It tends to burst pipes, as they say, and the locker room dust-up was as good a sign as any that all the years of scrutiny are getting to the 30-year-old former MVP these days.

Ever since the Sixers took him No. 3 in the 2014 NBA Draft, just six days after he had surgery to repair a right foot injury that would ultimately cost him the first two seasons of his career, the brutal reality about being in the Embiid business has been that it’s a calculated risk of the highest order. Just ask the five front-office heads and three head coaches who have been on board with the Sixers during his time in the league.

Both then and now, anything short of true title contention and a steady stream of Embiid greatness was bound to inspire angst and scorn in the city that boasts the famously demanding Sixers fans. But the weighty expectations that matter to him even more, and that loom so large again after he was given a three-year, $192 million extension in late September, are the ones that come from the franchise that employs him.

He knows Philly wouldn’t be off to this horrific start if he had been there, with the latest loss on Monday night against Phoenix (118-116) stinging perhaps the most because the Suns spoiled the long-awaited regular season debut of his new co-star, Paul George.

He knows the Sixers don’t have a prayer of pouring champagne in June without him, and that the journey from here to there has proved so problematic for him.

The hope, as team sources shared Monday, is that Embiid could play as soon as Wednesday’s game against the LA Clippers (unless he’s suspended by then). He recently began practicing in five-on-five action, worked out extensively before the game against the Suns and is expected to take part in individual workouts Tuesday in Los Angeles that will set the stage for what comes next. Barring a setback, it seems likely there is an end in sight here very soon.

As evidenced by the aforementioned contract extension, the Sixers still believe they can somehow steer this wayward ship to the land of Larry O’Brien trophies. There is an internal confidence Embiid’s left knee issue can be successfully managed in the months ahead. But there is also a sober recognition that the opposite could be true, too, that his body could fail him yet again and the Sixers will fall short of their championship dreams again. Tough questions about what it all means would inevitably follow if that scenario unfolds.

Regardless of what comes next, these last few weeks have been a hellish stretch of Sixers headlines for the ages. Embiid’s health was at the center of an NBA investigation late last month (which resulted in a $100,000 fine), and his incident with Hayes sparked another that is still ongoing. It’s never good when the NBA gods have to play the part of both doctor and detective with one team in such a short span.

As it relates to Embiid’s availability and the latest round of media/fan pressure being applied for him to play, team sources say this time has been made all the more difficult because the Sixers truly believed he would be ready at the start of the regular season Oct. 23. That’s why they made so many rose-colored-glasses statements publicly about his health, glossing over the truth about the left knee problem that the league ultimately deemed a legitimate concern. In doing so, they honored Embiid’s well-known wishes of being as private as possible when it comes to his health.

But those statements didn’t reconcile with the Sixers’ other stated goal, their plan to avoid back-to-backs for Embiid and George that was detailed in an ESPN story in mid-October and which broke the league’s unofficial rule against disparaging the importance of the regular season just a year away from the beginning of a massive new media rights deal. And when Embiid wasn’t able to go in the nationally televised opener, the jig was up. Thus, the fine.

Even still, these last few months have been so confusing when it comes to the truth about Embiid’s physical status. On the one hand, league sources say his left knee wasn’t a concern, or even a topic of discussion, among the Team USA stakeholders during the national team’s run to Olympic gold in France — even if, according to team sources, the left knee was being managed and monitored on their end during that time.

Embiid had his fits and starts on the floor, to be sure, but Embiid ultimately came up huge in the Americans’ epic comeback win over Serbia in the semifinal and accomplished what he’d gone there to do. What’s more, league sources say, he never missed a practice or a shootaround during the five-week stretch from the team’s Las Vegas training camp in early July to the championship game against France on Aug. 10. He even battled through an illness in the group-play opener against Serbia on July 28, traveling separately from the team en route from Paris to Lille and taking part despite the team’s leaders making it clear he was well within his right to rest.

If only the NBA calendar was so condensed.

As we all saw in such painful fashion on Jan. 30, when Embiid seemed to push back against public pressure by playing against Golden State and found himself getting left knee surgery a week later, this schedule is a grind of a whole different kind. The memory of that ill-fated night, when he labored so uncomfortably early on before getting injured when Jonathan Kuminga fell on his knee, is the kind of mental hurdle team sources believe is playing a part in his reluctance to return here. There was a lesson learned then that should still be heeded now, a reality that shaming Embiid into playing just isn’t the way to go. No matter how much the fan frustration in Philadelphia might be building.

For Embiid’s part, there was an encouraging change in demeanor late Monday night in Phoenix. Just moments after George misfired on a 22-footer at the buzzer that would have tied it, Embiid grabbed a ball and started taking midrange shots not far from where Kevin Durant was being interviewed about his 35-point night.

Before long, Suns guard Bradley Beal decided to work a little overtime and stole the ball from Embiid in a playful manner before squaring up in a defensive position. Embiid bumped him in vintage form, then pulled up for a stepback jumper that missed the mark. Beal pumped his fists. Embiid smiled, then gave Beal a hug before they parted ways.

The pressure that has surrounded him for so long now — if only for a little while — was nowhere to be found.

(Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)