“I see people saying ‘he doesn’t want to play.’ I’ve done way too much for this city putting myself at risk for people to be saying that. I do think it’s b——-.” Joel Embiid finally broke his silence after constantly being criticized by Philly fans for being sidelined due to injury management. Well, the frustration is justified on both ends because fans want to see their superstar compete while Embiid claims he is doing everything he can to return to action. However, there was one person in particular the former MVP called out for his controversial take on his absence, which might have gone a bit too personal: Marcus Hayes!

It was in one of his recent Inquirer columns that Hayes criticized Embiid for missing games, taking a personal dig at him. “Joel Embiid consistently points to the birth of his son, Arthur, as the major inflection point in his career. He often says that he wants to be great to leave a legacy for the boy named after his little brother who tragically died in an automobile accident when Embiid was in his first year as a 76er.” Hayes wrote.

Joel’s brother Arthur passed away ten years ago in a tragic car accident in Cameroon at the age of 13 in 2014. And Hayes connected that part of his life to Embiid’s absence from the court. “In order to be great at your job, you first have to show up for work. Embiid has been great at just the opposite,” he added. Obviously, the Sixers star was not pleased with Hayes’ remark and called him out publicly.

“Like that dude, he’s not here, Marcus, whatever his name is, I’ve done way too much for this f—— city to be treated like this. Done way too f—— much.” Embiid bursted out.

Currently, a Sports Columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Hayes is a media industry veteran. A New York native, he attended the Newhouse School at Syracuse University and later ended up joining the Syracuse Herald-Journal. During his five-year tenure, he covered high school and college sports along with reports on multiple Syracuse teams. From there, he transitioned to the Philadelphia Daily News in the late 90s and worked as the Phillies’ and Eagles’ beat writer. He has been a columnist for the past fourteen years.

Apart from this, he also hosts a radio show and has worked as an NPR and ESPN commentator as per his X bio. And he deems himself the “Voice of Reason.” But Hayes is not the only one to criticize Embiid. Even Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley had also blasted him for declaring during the start of the 2024-25 NBA season that he wouldn’t be playing in both legs of the team’s back-to-back games this season to preserve his health.

During the season’s first episode of TNT’s Inside the NBA, Barkley was cutthroat. “I was so disappointed in Joel Embiid saying he wasn’t going to play back-to-back games. You’re one of the three, four or five best players in the world. You cannot say as a leader of that team, ‘I’m not going to play certain games.’ That’s not the way to start the season. As the best player on that team, and a leader, I would never go into a season saying I’m not going to play back-to-back games. I thought that was a bad message,” he had said.

Shaq had added, “Not only that, it doesn’t make sense. The league isn’t that physical for him to say that. He’s a pick-and-popper, he’s not a big guy. … You don’t get doubled, you don’t get tripled, you don’t get flagrant fouled. There’s no reason to say ‘I’m not playing back-to-back.” The questions about his absence gained further voice since he was healthy enough to play in the Paris Olympics.

The situation went so bad that the NBA launched an investigation to look into his absence from their season-opening loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. On October 29, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the NBA was fining the 76ers $100,000 for “public statements around the health status” of Embiid. He added that the league’s investigation showed Philadelphia did not violate the NBA’s player participation policy, but the team’s public comments “did not properly reflect (Embiid’s) health issues with his knee.”

The 76ers termed the former MVP’s preseason absence “left knee management,” adding that he is “responding well to his individualized plan.” Embiid played in just 39 games last year, plagued by a series of knee injuries. He did face the Knicks in the postseason, but he was not his usual self. However, this year, before the Bucks game, Sixers coach Nick Nurse had cleared that Embiid was not injured.

“The plan is why he’s not playing. He did not re-injure himself, but the plan is we don’t feel he’s quite ready, strong enough, light enough, whatever it is. They’ve determined he’s not quite ready to go. Hasn’t been in any full-court scrimmages, etc. And that’s the plan,” he had said. For the unversed, the NBA’s player participation policy requires healthy players be available to play, and the policy further requires stars to be available for nationally televised games.

Nevertheless, referencing his family to prove a point might have crossed the line for the Embiid. Sure enough, even some of the fans did not appreciate Hayes’ comments about Joel’s son and late brother. So, eventually, the columnist had to step back.

Marcus Hayes apologized while Joel Embiid expects to return “Pretty Soon”

Obviously, the media veteran received a lot of backlash for his column on Embiid and later issued an apology. “So, I rewrote the lede to my column and replaced the picture. I can see why so many people were upset about it. Sorry about that. Thanks for all of the constructive criticism.” But that did not stop him from writing another column and addressing Embiid’s callout. And he did it by bringing up the big man’s salary and how much money he has raked in without suiting up for his team.

“Embiid has made $215 million to play just 54% of the regular-season games in his first 10 seasons. He’s making more than $600,000 per game. If he misses, say, the first 10 games, that’s more than $6 million — to get into playing shape,” Harris claimed.

Moreover, Hayes highlighted the Sixers’ disappointing start to the season without Embiid as they have lost three of their first four games. And he continued the criticism, saying, “The reality is this: he doesn’t think he needs to play, he doesn’t want to play right now, and therefore will not play. This is the Sixers’ reality for the next five seasons,” obviously referring to Embiid’s recent $193 million extension. Doubling down on his comments, he wrote, “Shame on him for not taking fuller responsibility for his actions, and his inaction.”

Well, it is still not clear when Joel will return to action. And since he has a track record of being unavailable during the most crucial stages of the season, Philly fans are understandably frustrated with this situation. However, he hinted at a possible return soon. “I wish I was as lucky as other ones, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not doing whatever it takes to be out there, which I’m gonna be pretty soon.”

With Paul George also out with an injury, the Sixers desperately need Joel to suit up and turn things around for them. Otherwise, they might be looking at another failed season in ‘The Process.’