Fining the Sixers for ‘inconsistent’ statements about Joel Embiid’s health could have the opposite of the intended effect.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, the NBA slapped the Sixers with a $100,000 fine on Tuesday after investigating why Joel Embiid missed their nationally televised regular-season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks on Oct. 23. The reason for the fine was eye-opening, though.
The league didn’t fine the Sixers because Embiid missed that game. In fact, its investigation confirmed that he “has been unable to play” thus far this season “due to a left knee condition,” which means he isn’t in violation of the new player participation policy that went into effect ahead of the 2023-24 campaign. Instead, the Sixers were fined for “public statements” that were “inconsistent” with Embiid’s “health status.”
The league didn’t specify which statements resulted in the fine. It only mentioned team president Daryl Morey and head coach Nick Nurse as the culprits. Both have spent the past few weeks discussing their plan to keep Embiid fresh throughout the regular season, which includes regularly scheduled rest.
That appears to have rubbed the league office the wrong way. Sources told Sam Amick and Joe Vardon of The Athletic that the Sixers’ messaging—namely “that the playoffs were a major priority and the regular season was not—was a significant part of the decision” to fine them.
A source with knowledge of the league’s investigation told Amick and Vardon that Embiid did not suffer a new injury during the Olympics, but his knee was “unstable enough that there was concern about further damage being done if Embiid had played last week.” The Sixers’ public messaging in recent weeks did not accurately reflect that.
The player participation policy does allow the league to impose discipline if “a GM, head coach, or other team personnel (including team Governors or investors), a player, or a player representative makes a statement or other representation that contradicts the player’s status on the team’s injury report or as described to the league office.” The Sixers have listed Embiid as out with “left knee injury management” for the first four games of the season, but they’ve divulged zero concrete information beyond that.
Now that they’ve gotten fined, they have even less incentive to be forthcoming. The next violation of the player participation policy will cost them $250,000, while any subsequent violations will cost them an additional $1 million each time. That perhaps explains why head coach Nick Nurse was so terse with reporters Tuesday who asked about Embiid’s status. More misleading comments could now cost the Sixers a quarter-million dollars.
The NBA would never admit this, but it likely implemented this new participation policy for two main reasons: national TV partners and gambling. Amick and Vardon noted there was “a business backdrop that most certainly came into play” with the league’s decision to fine the Sixers, as star players playing in high-profile games “is a pivotal part of the league’s financial equation going forward.” And with sports gambling having taken off like wildfire in recent years, the league doesn’t want teams to lie about players’ health status. It already had one scare with the Jontay Porter scandal last year; any additional gambling-related fiascos could have enormous consequences.
However, fining the Sixers for “inconsistent” comments about Embiid gives them zero incentive to release any additional information about him until he’s ready to return. That’s only going to make a frustrating start of the season even worse.
Granted, the Sixers could solve all of this by being honest and straightforward about what’s going on with Embiid. What is the left knee “condition” that he’s dealing with? Why was his knee reportedly unstable enough last week that he’d risk further damage had he played? Is this all a result of the meniscus procedure that he had earlier this year? Is it something he’ll have to deal with for the rest of his career?
As Liberty Ballers chief Paul Hudrick wrote earlier this week, the Sixers’ lack of transparency is only making this situation worse. The player participation policy doesn’t prohibit them from disclosing that type of information, although they’d need Embiid’s sign-off first. (Don’t hold your breath.)
Barring a sudden about-face from Embiid and the Sixers, we might now be even more in the dark about the big man’s health status than we were before. We can thank the fines for violating the player participation policy for that.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.