Joel Embiid's altercation with a columnist was the writer's words coming home to roost

Joel Embiid shouted at and eventually shoved a Philadelphia sports columnist in the 76ers locker room during an exchange of words after Saturday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

The altercation stemmed from a story written by Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes that mentioned Embiid’s son and late brother in a criticism of the center’s lack of availability for the 76ers. The column’s lede crossed a line that could unfortunately result in Embiid missing even more time than he already has.

Here’s what Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes wrote, before his altercation with Joel Embiid tonight: pic.twitter.com/7nVvs4RfnP

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) November 3, 2024

The altercation began with Embiid confronting Hayes as reporters entered the locker room, according to ESPN, saying “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.”

The NBA is investigating what happened, a league spokesperson told ESPN’s Shams Charania. There hasn’t been mention of discipline for Embiid yet, though that’s completely within the realm of possibility and maybe even an expected consequence for his actions — just like Hayes getting shoved could have been an expected consequence for what he wrote.

Considering the personal nature of the column, Hayes is lucky things didn’t escalate further.

"Joel Embiid got into a physical altercation, shoving a columnist in the postgame locker room tonight." @ShamsCharania on Joel Embiid and the NBA's investigation into the incident on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/p2z3nJqrEY

— ESPN (@espn) November 3, 2024

Using Embiid’s family the way Hayes did was disgusting and completely unnecessary for a critique about how much Embiid plays. I firmly believe in keeping your hands to yourself, but Embiid’s reaction is not hard to understand. If anything, it should be a lesson learned for the entire sports media industry that some things are off limits.

Hayes seemed to understand as much, apologizing on X for the Oct. 23 column just a few hours after it published and removing any mention of Embiid’s family. That it was possible to edit without changing the column proves how unnecessary that part was to begin with.

According to ESPN, Hayes also offered an apology to Embiid during Saturday’s altercation. Embiid, who previously addressed Hayes while talking to reporters Friday, saying “I’ve done way too much for this [expletive] city to be treated like this,” rejected the apology.

“That’s not the [expletive] first time,” Embiid said.

I’m not familiar enough with Hayes to know whether that’s true. But if the column does follow a similar pattern of behavior, Hayes needs to be held equally accountable as Embiid. If he can’t get his points across without personal attacks on athletes, the Inquirer should find a columnist who can.