Joel Embiid sounds off after details of Sixers’ team meeting emerge

MEMPHIS — Joel Embiid sounded off after details from the 76ers’ lengthy team meeting Monday night — including teammate Tyrese Maxey calling the 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player late — surfaced through multiple reports citing anonymous sources, saying “the one that leaked that, is a real piece of (expletive).”

“We talked about a lot of things (during the meeting),” Embiid said after the Sixers’ loss Wednesday at the Grizzlies. “I don’t want to get into the details, but the whole thing (with Maxey) probably took 30 seconds. But then again, it’s Joel Embiid, so we have to blow everything out of proportion.

“It’s whatever. I take it all. I’m the cause of everything, so I take the blame for everything.”

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Embiid’s response was prompted by a question about why his relationship with Maxey — which has developed into a familiar close friendship over their four-plus seasons as teammates — is strong enough to have the tough, honest conversations.

For Wednesday’s game in Memphis, Embiid and Maxey were in the same corner of the visitors’ locker room and spent the majority of the postgame period open to the media chatting with zero noticeable tension. Even in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s meeting, which followed the Sixers’ loss at the Miami Heat, Embiid went over to Maxey for a quick chat during the reporter period.

“That’s the relationship we have — nothing malicious,” Embiid said. “I like it when people tell me what I’m not doing well, what I need to do better. Although that part (the delay) maybe happened once or twice when I wasn’t playing. …

“So I have to get better. I have to be perfect. I have to be on the right path, which I want to do. Which I always have.”

It was the second time in recent weeks that Embiid publicly expressed his displeasure with the coverage of him or the Sixers, who fell to 2-12 on Wednesday during a terrible start to a season that opened with championship hopes.

After not holding a media session for more than a month while dealing with a knee ailment stemming from meniscus surgery last February, Embiid said, “I’ve done way too much for this (expletive) city” by shooting back on outside criticism for missing the start of the season. He also called out Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes by name for a piece that mentioned his late brother and son, both named Arthur, in such criticism. After a Nov. 2 home game against the Grizzlies, Embiid shoved Hayes during an altercation in the locker room, resulting in a three-game suspension by the NBA.

“It’s kind of annoying to have to deal with the same things over and over and over again,” Embiid said Wednesday. “It has been like this my entire career. All I try to do is focus on basketball and try to make the best life for my family, on and off the court.

“But it’s unbelievable. It just feels like the negativity keeps following us, which I don’t understand why. But it’s a shame, but it doesn’t change the fact that we all still have to be better.”

Embiid’s comments Wednesday came after his best game of the season, finishing with 35 points and 11 rebounds in 35 minutes. It was supposed to be the Sixers’ first game that their three All-Stars — Embiid, Maxey and newcomer Paul George — played together, but George left early in the third quarter after hyperextending his left knee.

“We talked about a lot of things (in the meeting),” Embiid said. “Sometimes we executed what we talked about and sometimes we didn’t. Right now, we don’t have a lot of margin for error, so we have to be perfect in everything we do on both ends of the floor.”