After the Philadelphia 76ers acquired off to a 2-11 begin to the 2024-25 season, the group held a closed-doors assembly to clear the air and set the tone for what they hoped could be a turnaround.
Particulars of what was stated in that assembly have been leaked the subsequent day, as we realized Tyrese Maxey challenged Joel Embiid over being continuously late and never setting the usual because the group’s star. Embiid was upset that turned public information, saying whoever leaked the data was a “actual piece of shit” and vowed to determine who did it.
In a profile by ESPN’s Dotun Akintoye on Wednesday, we realized Embiid is aware of who the leak is, and whereas he isn’t prepared to disclose that info, he made it clear that the belief has been damaged and he will not be collaborating in any future group conferences.
“I do know who leaked it, however … the previous is the previous. The one factor I am going to say is, it is laborious being round those who do these kinds of stuff,” Embiid stated. “That goes again to the belief factor. When you cross that — you may’t anticipate me to be a part of a group assembly once more. That is simply not going to occur.”
Akintoye pressed Embiid on whether or not the participant was nonetheless on the roster, and whereas Embiid was cagey, he stated “there’s an opportunity they’re nonetheless round.”
The profile exhibits quite a few examples of how the previous MVP is fast to place up a wall with folks after they break his belief — and the way gradual he’s to let of us in once more. Whoever leaked that group assembly nugget is now on the opposite aspect of that wall, and if it is a distinguished member of the group, managing that relationship can be a further job on coach Nick Nurse’s plate.
Total, Embiid’s relationship with the Sixers group is an interesting one. There’s each an comprehensible skepticism on Embiid’s half over how they’ve dealt with his accidents all through his time there, but a deep need to ship on the promise of his skills for a company that has put a lot of their hopes on him. Including in a layer of mistrust on the locker room degree, when there are already tensions with Sixers administration, isn’t precisely a perfect state of affairs as all events concerned attempt to transfer ahead and put a disastrous 2024-25 marketing campaign behind them.
Philadelphia hopes Embiid, Maxey and Paul George can handle to remain wholesome subsequent yr and fulfill the promise of their star energy and push the Sixers to the highest of an Jap Convention in flux. At this level, they desperately want issues to get off to a powerful begin. If not they’re going to have to determine straighten issues out with out Embiid’s participation in any future closed-door conferences.
