Report: Joel Embiid physically threatened a Sixers coach last season

By foxsports
Published

The decision to select Joel Embiid with the third overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft is looking worse and worse with each passing day.

It was known, of course, that Embiid would miss his entire rookie season as he recovered from a foot injury. But the team had success in a similar situation with Nerlens Noel the previous season, so Embiid was believed to be well worth the risk.

But attitude issues have been a problem with Embiid at various points, the worst of which may have been an altercation with the team's strength coach that resulted in him being sent home from a West Coast road trip last year. 

Brian Geltzeiler of The Cauldron has some additional details on what may have transpired.

The fact that Brown sent Embiid home from a West Coast road trip last season for being insubordinate to the team’s strength coach and training staff is well documented, but according to a source, the tipping point in the decision was Embiid physically threatening the strength coach on that road trip. According to sources, this followed a pattern of insubordination from Embiid during the rehabilitation of his initial foot injury that sidelined him for the entire 2014–15 season, where he would repeatedly refuse to answer questions from the training staff about his workouts and therapy sessions.