The NBA has fined the 76ers $100,000 due to statements about the health of Joel Embiid

There’s never a dull moment when it comes to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Just three games into the 2024-25 regular season, the NBA has now fined the Philadelphia 76ers $100,000 for public statements made by Daryl Morey and Nick Nurse regarding the health of Joel Embiid, who is yet to play a game this season.

Joel Embiid Stats This Season:

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NBA issues Joel Embiid a technical for waving a towel on the bench vs Pacers >>

Last week, the league opened an investigation into the 76ers and Embiid’s injury designation which has caused him to miss the first three games of the regular season.

We all thought that Embiid would make his debut tomorrow night when the 76ers host the Pistons but learned today that would not be the case.

Shortly after, the NBA released the following statement:

“The league’s investigation also confirmed that Embiid has been unable to play in the 76ers’ regular season games this season due to a left knee condition, and therefore his games missed have not violated the Player Participation Policy.”

76ers Fined $100K for public statements made on Joel Embiid’s Injury

Here’s the official release from the NBA on its investigation into Joel Embiid missing the start of the season due to a “left knee condition.” pic.twitter.com/rRHZjxsZ8C

— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell) October 29, 2024

Important to note that the NBA fined 76ers not because of the “load management plan”. The six-figure fine was regarding talk of Embiid not playing in back-to-back games for the remainder of his career in an article posted on ESPN last month.

So what exactly is going on with Joel Embiid?

Philadelphia has been playing it safe when it comes to managing Embiid through the regular season with the hope he’ll be in full health come the postseason – something Embiid hasn’t achieved.

That sounds smart in theory, but the issue is the lack of transparency and mixed messaging when communicating their strategy to the media and general public. Leading up to the NBA’s investigation, it seemed Embiid wasn’t suffering from an actual injury and was simply resting his left knee – the knee that he tore his meniscus last season.

Following Philadelphia’s practice this afternoon, Nick Nurse, clearly annoyed with the Embiid/George injury questions, declined to talk to the press about the health of his star players- both of which have yet to see the court this season.

Don’t think it is the best look for Nick Nurse to be testy about the Joel Embiid talking points regardless but from the way he has answered all of these questions it’s very clear to me he doesn’t seem to agree with or fully know the plan with Embiid pic.twitter.com/TaD6dNe8oM

— Sean Barnard (@Sean_Barnard1) October 29, 2024

While I can understand Nurse’s annoyance, the lack of clarity in his answers is part of the reason why the league opened the investigation in the first place.

Reports indicate that Embiid has been taking part in certain aspects of practices and George continues to put up shots in pregame shoot-around so it’s safe to assume their returns to action should be coming within the next week.

Despite the injuries, the 76ers are 1-2 through three games and aim to get to .500 on Wednesday against the Detroit Pistons — the fourth consecutive game that Embiid and George will miss.

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