The NBA has fined the Philadelphia 76ers $100,000 for violating the league’s injury reporting rules on Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks. They listed Joel Embiid as being “out” for the game, though he ended up playing. Once a player is listed on the report as being out of a game, the team is expected to follow through on that claim per league rules. The league also considers a team’s history of similar violations when determining punishment for such a policy breach.
Embiid was initially listed as out for Sunday’s game against Atlanta, then upgraded to questionable before trotting onto the court minutes later, scoring 18 points in 30 minutes of the overtime loss. Embiid was returning from a knee injury that had kept him out of the previous nine games.
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Philadelphia has a history of inaccurately listing injury violations, especially involving Embiid. Late in the 2023-24 season, the team was fined $100k by the NBA for the same violation. They failed to accurately disclose Embiid’s game availability status against the OKC Thunder on April 5. The Sixers were also fined another $100k in October of 2024 for public statements regarding Embiid’s health.
Since entering the NBA, the injury bug has been attached to Embiid like a fungus. Embiid was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft but didn’t debut for the team until the 2016-17 campaign due to a foot injury. Since then, there’s been no stopping Embiid when he’s healthy. He’s a former league MVP, a seven-time All-Star, a five-time All-NBA, a three-time All-Defensive team selection, and a two-time scoring champion.
This story will be updated.