You don’t ask a woman her age and a man his salary. Unless, of course, the man is a million-dollar-earning NBA star. So for him, you probably don’t want to mention his family. But that’s exactly what Marcus Hayes of the Philadelphia Inquirer did in his infamous column about an injury-stricken Joel Embiid. It was only a matter of time before all hell broke loose and that finally happened after the Grizzlies game last Saturday. The NBA was quick to impose a ban on their former MVP. But shouldn’t the regulations be similar for the reporters as well on the behavioral front? That’s what former NBA star DeMarcus Cousins pointed out in his latest appearance on the ‘Run It Back’ show.

When asked about the whole Joel Embiid drama over the past week, the former Nuggets player didn’t hesitate to take Embiid’s side. He even put himself in Embiid’s shoes and recalled how he had a similar issue in the past. “I had a similar situation, and, I know that feeling,” Boogie said on the show. “You try to come in every day as a professional, do things the right way, be politically correct, follow the guidelines. But sometimes it’s just in life, you had that person that wants to push you to the edge and try you just a little bit. Let’s see if we can get away with this. And I think that this is one of those situations.”

Reiterating his point about how NBA players get blasted if certain guidelines are not followed, Cousins made a suggestion that Adam Silver might want to think about. “I would just like it to be where it’s a even field to where these writers and these reporters and these bloggers have to meet some type of a guideline and make sure that line isn’t crossed. Because everybody deserves respect at the end of the day,” Cousins concluded. While the Sixers franchise chose to side with the reporter, many players have voiced their displeasure over how the situation has played out. Veterans like Draymond Green and Paul George questioned why the NBA allows the locker room interviews, a place the players consider their sanctuary.

The disgruntled mood among the players is certainly something Silver and the league should be monitoring because at the end of the day, these are the players who run the business. Not only the active players but the whole fiasco even upset former hoopsters as well.

NBA legend sides with Joel Embiid over media controversy

Over the years, Embiid has been a constant target of the media and analysts. Following his decision to not play back-to-back games again, many former NBA stars called him out for that. But when it came to family, it was a united front. Paul Pierce is the latest NBA legend joining that list to defend Embiid. During a recent episode of KG Certified, ‘The Truth’ made himself clear about the controversy.

“It gets to the point where you ain’t gotta put none of this in your articles… You gotta respect a man’s personal (life) because that’s how you touch,” Pierce said. “The media be always trying to needle players and just say feel like they can say what they want in such situations. If we ain’t talking basketball, what are we talking about right now?”

Stressing the need to keep things strictly related to basketball, Pierce added, “You can say I’m out of shape and all this. But don’t cross that line. Don’t cross the line when you talk about my son, my brother. Rest in peace…. It didn’t have to get to where it got to. But, you touch a motherf–king soul when you start talking about somebody’s family and their kids. When it comes to my family, damn, we got a problem.”

This situation has raised questions over the NBA’s security measures around the locker rooms. Many have been vocal about taking a page out of the NFL’s playbook and restricting media accessibility in the locker room. Will this Joel Embiid incident force Adam Silver to make the needed changes? Or does there need to be more of such chaos to finally crackdown on media behavior? Share your thoughts below.