While the Sixers’ season is well underway, we are yet to see Joel Embiid make an appearance on the hardwood. Well, the hooper missed the first three games because of ‘injury management’ on his lingering knee issues. But despite his absence, the former MVP has surprisingly already been slapped with his first technical foul of the year weirdly because of an unharmful act during last night’s overtime win against Indiana. And it has led to the fans accusing Adam Silver and Co. of having a bias against the Philly veteran.

During the final seconds of overtime, the Sixers were leading by 3 points and Andrew Nembhard was on the free-throw line trying to close the gap. In an attempt to distract the Pacer, Embiid, who was standing on the sidelines, began waving a towel before Nembhard even shot the ball. Surprisingly, the distraction worked, as he missed the free throw.

More importantly, the Sixers went home with their first win of the season! However, the league was not happy with the big man’s antics and he was penalized with a rare postgame technical foul for waving the towel during Nembhard’s free throw routine.

Even Tyrese Haliburton complained to the officials about the former MVP’s act when it happened, but no action was taken at the time. After the act, Joel kept the towel down and hilariously stood there with his hands folded, as if he had not done anything.

Then, the hooper continued distracting Andrew Nembhard, but this time only by waving his hands instead of a towel. Obviously, this caught the fans’ focus too, and it’s safe to say that the community is not happy with the league’s decision.

NBA World deems the league ‘soft’ after Joel Embiid’s controversial tech

As expected, fans were not pleased with Adam Silver and Co.’s decision and began mocking the league on social media. Splashing big accusations on the NBA, one netizen wrote, “NBA don’t like Embiid & they not hiding it 😂” Sure enough, the hooper’s constant absence has become a major concern around the league and many believe it has even rubbed the league front office the wrong way.

Considering that Joel Embiid received a tech for an act that was not violent or harming anyone, comments like “NBA is a soft… NFL is soft… the only real sport is soccer now” and “What happened to the game I love 😔” began flooding in.

Obviously, fans often compare today’s game to the older days when players used to get away with much harder fouls and the game was so much more physical. With players getting technical fouls just for showing their emotions, many believe the league has become ‘soft’. Well, the NBA rulebook in the ‘Technical Foul’ part, does have an entire designated section (v) addressing inappropriate conduct, for which the officials are well within their right to take action. However, official clarity on the same would clear so many doubts.

Meanwhile, one fan claimed if Joel’s antics deserved a tech, then the league should also take action against the Clippers. “Ok, then ban ‘the wall,’” they wrote, referring to the seating area in the new Intuit Dome, which is designed specifically to distract the players when they try to score a basket. Notably, this ‘wall’ also impacted Kevin Durant’s focus, and he missed two free throws. “I was just staring at it the whole time. You’re not used to that,” the Suns veteran honestly admitted.

While most fans sided with Joel on this one, a netizen mockingly wrote, “His punishment should be playing back-to-back games 😂” referring to the Sixers star’s recent comments where he said, “I would probably never play back-to-backs the rest of my career.” Yes, this is part of the strategy to keep Joel Embiid healthy for the entire year. Do you think the Philly star deserved a tech for his actions?