April 04, 2026
PHILADELPHIA – After one of the Sixers' strongest victories of the season – a home win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night featuring contributions from all sections of the roster and shrewd coaching decisions – Joel Embiid called out Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey.
In a 90-second answer to a question about his tweets after missing Wednesday's road game against the Washington Wizards, Embiid claimed he found out he had been ruled out for the contest online, said any questions about what happened should be directed towards Morey and, after a few hours of bliss for a team surging at the right time, derailed the mood.
As usual, Embiid was the last member of the Sixers to speak after Friday's game. After head coach Nick Nurse, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Dominick Barlow spoke glowingly of how the team played in the second half against a strong Western Conference team and professed optimism about where all of this is headed, Embiid provided tame responses before making strong comments about Morey.
After the Sixers' loss to the Miami Heat on Monday, Embiid told reporters he had been playing through an illness that had not been listed on any of the team's injury reports leading up to the game. On the initial injury report for Wednesday's game, Embiid was not listed. But that morning, he was promptly ruled out with an illness. Morey told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Embiid had been ruled out after being unable to attend the team's film session in the morning, which had replaced the shootaround initially planned. Embiid sent out two tweets, one saying he planned on playing and another suggesting the Sixers were not allowing him to play.
So on Friday night, Embiid was asked about those posts which caused a firestorm on social media, with plenty of theories about what happened flying around. His full answer in audio form:
Here is full audio of Joel Embiid answering a question about missing Wednesday’s game, saying that all questions should be directed to Sixers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey, that he was “pissed off” to find out he was not playing online and more: pic.twitter.com/TsfxM5PXsB
— Adam Aaronson (@SixersAdam) April 4, 2026
And his full answer transcribed:
"I was pissed off. I wanted to play basketball. I wasn't allowed to play basketball. So I think this is more of a question [for] Daryl Morey and whoever makes the decisions. I think going into Miami, I was pretty sick. But I understood how important that game was and still wanted to give us a chance to go out there and try to do something, because of how important the game was. Same thing. Felt a little bit better going to Washington, definitely much better than I felt against Miami. Woke up – didn't sleep until probably 5:00 in the morning or 6:00. So with that, couldn't make it to shootaround. And then after that, I found out online that I wasn't playing that night. So yeah, that kind of caught me off guard and, yeah, that pissed me off. But then again, I guess they make the decisions, so it doesn't matter what I think or not. I've just got to follow. But, yeah, to answer your question, that's more of a question for Daryl and them. So, yeah, they've got to – yeah. I don't know what's going on. I just want to play basketball."
It has never been a secret that Embiid has significant influence over decisions made about his playing statuses for games. Decisions about whether or not he will play in games are, more often than not, kept private until the Sixers are mandated by the NBA to submit a starting lineup a half-hour before tip-off.
Fans have grown to know that designations such as doubtful and probable mean very little when it comes to Embiid, who on Wednesday was downgraded to out without being listed on the previous day's injury report and on Friday was upgraded from doubtful to probable before being upgraded to available 30 minutes before the game began.
If anything, the lack of transparency surrounding Embiid and his availability has become a running joke among fans. Statements issued by the team or made by Nurse are dismissed if not mocked. As Embiid's health has deteriorated over the last two seasons, the questions pertaining to when he will play have only grown louder and more frequent. Embiid has only grown more concerned with keeping that information private.
It is far and away the most exhausting aspect of the Sixers' existence for fans, reporters and people employed by the team.
To a large degree, this has been a reoccurring theme because the Sixers have been so accommodating to Embiid's whims. They were fined $100,000 earlier this season because, after initially listing Embiid as out for a game, they upgraded him to questionable and he eventually played. Players are not supposed to be listed as out unless they are definitively going to be unavailable (that game marked Embiid's return from a three-week absence during which he was never made available to the media and the Sixers repeatedly referred to him as "day-to-day," even when multiple weeks had passed without him playing).
Unpacking Embiid's comments leads to a whole lot of questions.
The most common one circulating: was Embiid ruled out for the game as a form of discipline for missing a team activity? From those who believe Embiid was dealing with a significant sickness: would a team that has gone to such great lengths to empower him to make decisions about his health suddenly decide to rule him out for a game without even telling him? Morey undoubtedly deserves credit for the fact that Embiid has remained in Philadelphia for his entire career to date after he cleaned up the mess of his predecessors; has that relationship grown contentious? If it has, how does that impact Morey's job security in what is seen as a make-or-break year for not just himself but Nurse as well?
The only people able to answer these questions in earnest are Embiid and Morey. And, to be clear, this is not an extinction-level event. Embiid has expressed frustration with all sorts of people in all sorts of ways during his career. The Sixers remain a team finding its stride right in the middle of a packed race for the Eastern Conference's last two playoff spots, and they still are well-positioned to earn one of those spots after how the last few days have gone.
But there was something so fitting and so disastrous about Friday night ending in acrimony. Hours worth of goodwill were dampened with one answer from Embiid. It is, in many ways, representative of how things have gone for the Sixers for two years now. Brief glimpses of hope and upside are followed up by crashes back down to harsh realities.
Whether Embiid or Morey is the one deserving of the blame – and both of them, plus others in the organization, should at least be considered somewhat culpable – for one of the Sixers' rare, unquestionably positive nights to be subdued by this bizarre drama is embarrassing.
Consider this situation yet another own goal scored by the Sixers. There have been far too many of those over the last two years.
