Why did NBA fine the Philadelphia 76ers $100K over Joel Embiid?

It may be that the Sixers have some issues when it comes to transparency regarding injuries and not just with their star. Indeed, this isn’t the first time that the team has found itself in trouble for the way in which it handled players who were sidelined.

NBA fines Sixers $100K and here is why

According to reports on Friday, The NBA has fined the Philadelphia 76ers $100,000 for how they handled Joel Embiid’s return to the court. If you caught our previous report, you will know that the NBA had previously indicated that it would be investigating the manner in which Embiid’s return was handled prior to the Game on Thursday night when they faced the Oklahoma City Thunder. Below you can see the full notes from the league’s announcement, which also includes rationale behind why the fine was so large, seemingly the idea that the Sixers have done this before:

“The NBA announced today that the Philadelphia 76ers have been fined $100,000 for violating league injury reporting rules. The 76ers failed to accurately disclose the Game availability status of Joel Embiid prior to their Game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on April 2. Embiid was listed as “Out” in Philadelphia’s initial injury report and subsequently played in the Game. The fine takes into account the 76ers’ prior History of fines for violating injury reporting rules.”

Where the details of the situation are concerned, it’s important to understand that Embiid was listed as out on Monday afternoon and then again for Tuesday’s morning shootaround. At that point, the general consensus was that he would not be facing the Thunder that night. Clearly, that’s not what happened as his status was upgraded to ‘questionable’ at 5:30 p.m. ET that day, which eventually led to him taking to the court that night. Now, regarding that “prior history” that the NBA refers to, this is most definitely not the first time the Sixers have done this.

Back on February 1st, the team was fined $75,000 for not reporting Embiid’s knee soreness before he was made a late omission in a nationally televised game against the Nuggets. Prior to that, there was a $50,000 back in May 2022, and yes, it involved Embiid as well. On that occasion, the NBA fined the Sixers for something that was quite similar to what happened this past Tuesday. After missing the first two games of their series against the Miami Heat, the team “failed to disclose” his status “in an accurate and timely manner” before his return in Game 3. Believe it or not, there was also a $25,000 fine back in the time of Ben Simmons who was taken out the lineup at the last minute against the Denver Nuggets when then-coach Doc Rivers spoke of knee stiffness after not including the player on the injury report before the game.