Kevin Cooney Recounts Joel Embiid Locker Room Incident on 97.5 The Fanatic [AUDIO]
Joel Embiid and a local columnist from The Philadelphia Inquirer got into a verbal and physical altercation after the Philadelphia 76ers lost to the Memphis Grizzlies at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday.
The columnist had strongly criticized Embiid for his physical conditioning and dedication to the 76ers in recently-published pieces after the former NBA MVP was unable to start the 2024-25 regular season on the court. He had also mentioned Embiid’s son and deceased brother in parts of the column tied to the criticism.
Kevin Cooney of 97.5 The Fanatic covered the game for the Associated Press and witnessed the postgame altercation.
Kevin Cooney Tells The Story
Cameras followed Kyle Lowry to the podium for his postgame availability after the loss, but media members gathered in the home locker room to interview Tyrese Maxey.
Joel Embiid sat nearby in sweats after sitting out because of a knee condition that’s kept him on the sidelines for all five of Philadelphia’s regular season games. He confronted the Inquirer columnist with heated and explicit language and brushed aside the writer’s apology.
After Embiid said that he doesn’t care about the media’s perspective, the situation escalated further when the columnist pointed out “but you do” to the seven-footer.
“At a certain point, Embiid kind of extends his arm out and pushes his (the columnist’s) shoulder and pushes him back. There’s no intent to knock him down. There’s nothing (further) but he does make contact at that point.”
After Cooney recounted the initial incident, he scrutinized the entire situation with perspective from decades as a journalist in Philadelphia.
He pointed out that similar (but not physical) altercations took place in baseball clubhouses years ago before the advent of social media.
“Covering baseball, we used to get three or four of these every year, where this type of confrontation would’ve happened, a verbal confrontation between a player and a reporter over something that was written. I hate saying it wasn’t a big deal back then, but it was just kind of part of the job.”
Cooney acknowledged the Inquirer columnist’s mistake of bringing Embiid’s family into what should’ve been a basketball evaluation.
“Some things are off limits, and I’d say that is probably over the line.”
He also placed greater blame on the editorial staff, however, for publishing a bullish statement about a player’s family.
Joel Embiid
The NBA is currently investigating the incident. They’re likely to suspend Joel Embiid for the incident with the columnist following Philadelphia’s loss to the Grizzlies on Saturday.
While the drama will dominate the conversation, Embiid has also negatively affected the team on the court if he ultimately does miss additional games for a struggling team.
Kevin Cooney spoke about how the former NBA MVP has handled criticism recently and since the Sixers drafted him in 2014.
“In actuality, I think you (Embiid) almost look like you’re more (using) rabbit ears, that you’re more focused on things that are not what Joel should be focused on right now, which is just getting set to get back on the court and everything. You don’t do it at this time. I think in that way they’re both wrong.”
Cooney also criticized Embiid’s choice to respond rashly. His knowledge of the situation went further than the discourse you’ll hear on social media about the right/wrong of it.
“I believe there were offers made to facilitate a meeting with Marcus and Embiid privately. If you have frustrations over what is being said by a columnist, that step should’ve been private. That conversation cannot happen in an open locker room like that. That to me, is something that should be done behind closed doors between the person who wrote it and the person who’s the subject of it.”
“If he has those gripes with a reporter, there are plenty of ways (to handle it). These teams know how to get every reporter when they want to. They have cell phone numbers. They can arrange private meetings in the back. They can call editors, whatever. They have ways of making it happen. I think the Sixers were hoping it would happen that way. I don’t think Joel was amenable to it, so he makes it public.”
Embiid appeared close to a return before Saturday’s postgame incident, but the Sixers now have another concern impacting his availability.
