Exposing Wild Joel Embiid Disparity, Draymond Green Attempts to Redeem Tarnished Image

When we talk about a player who has created more controversy on the court than anyone, Draymond Green’s name likely pops to mind. That is the reputation he has built in everyone’s head because of his unusual antics. From putting Rudy Gobert in a choke hold to hitting Jusuf Nurkic in the head, Green has done things that were bound to put him in a bad light. However, pointing out that the reigning MVP Joel Embiid might have made even more mistakes than him, Green sneakily tried to redeem himself in front of the world with a ‘two-word’ message.

An interesting post by ClutchPoints shows that Draymond has collected 21 flagrant fouls while playing 970 games in his career, including regular season and playoffs. Although, that sounds like a big number, what shocked everyone is that Joel Embiid has somehow beaten Draymond with 23 flagrant fouls in just 489 games. To highlight this stat, Draymond shared it on his Instagram story, writing, “Hood winked.” Hood winked because Embiid surpassed his foul count in nearly five hundred fewer games, yet Green still arguably holds the worst reputation in the league.

More importantly, not only does Draymond Green’s reputation affect himself but also his team. Just this season alone, he served two lengthy suspensions, one that lasted five games for choking Rudy and the other that lasted twelve for hitting Nurkic. Constantly dealing with the drama surrounding DrayMagic and not having him on the court might be part of the reason why the Warriors could not make it to the playoffs. Meanwhile, we hardly see Embiid getting harsh treatment like DG, although numbers suggest that his antics cause more damage on the court.

Does the league have a bias toward Joel Embiid?

Despite committing 23 flagrant fouls in his career, Embiid’s suspension count is not as much as Draymond Green’s. And that makes the NBA World wonder whether the league has a bias toward the reigning MVP. Even in this year’s series against the New York Knicks, his actions in Game 3 brought a lot of heat his way. Down 0-2 in the series, Embiid pulled off a desperate move that many deemed “dirty” by pulling Mitchell Robinson by his ankles during a layup attempt, nearly causing a major injury to the Center. However, all Embiid got for that play was a Flagrant 1 foul.

When asked what led to Embiid pulling Robinson down, the Sixers star turned the tables by saying he was trying to save himself from injury, “Obviously Mitchell Robinson jumping and trying to land, trying to make sure he doesn’t land on me because obviously we know the history that I have with Kuminga landing on my knee.” Despite a clear intentional foul, Embiid received no penalty from the league.

Just a game later, he again did something controversial by stepping on Josh Hart’s knee and also elbowing Jalen Brunson in the face during a screen. Although the two fouls did not seem as intentional as the Robinson one, they did lead to people questioning Embiid’s style of play.

Do you think Embiid’s actions on the court are not getting enough attention and scrutiny as Draymond’s?