{"id":1864910,"date":"2026-04-04T05:12:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1864910"},"modified":"2026-04-04T05:12:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:12:35","slug":"joel-embiid-pissed-off-after-76ers-hold-him-out-of-recent-game-calls-out-gm-daryl-morey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1864910","title":{"rendered":"Joel Embiid \u2018pissed off\u2019 after 76ers hold him out of recent game, calls out GM Daryl Morey"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"Article_ContentContainer__jBNW3 article-content-container bodytext1\">\n<p>PHILADELPHIA \u2014 One hour after the Philadelphia 76ers captured their 43rd win in one of their most complete performances of the season, star center Joel Embiid voiced frustration with the organization \u2014 and general manager Daryl Morey \u2014 over not playing in a game earlier in the week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was pissed off,\u201d Embiid said Friday in his first public comments since the team held him out of Wednesday\u2019s game against the Washington Wizards with an illness. \u201cI wanted to play basketball. I wasn\u2019t allowed to play basketball. So, this is more of a question for Daryl Morey.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid1\" data-position=\"mid1\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The 76ers listed Embiid as out for Wednesday\u2019s game, prompting the 32-year-old center <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JoelEmbiid\/status\/2039390599128744025\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">to write on X<\/a> that it was an April Fools\u2019 joke. He didn\u2019t play in the 76ers\u2019 153-131 win over Washington, then returned Friday with 19 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in a 115-103 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-pickem\">\n<p>After the win over Minnesota, Embiid said he was caught off guard by the 76ers\u2019 decision to rule him out for Wednesday\u2019s game. While his illness prevented him from attending the team\u2019s morning film session, he said he felt better as the day progressed and made it known that he desired to get on the floor.<\/p>\n<div id=\"top-league-content-root\"><\/div>\n<p>    {&#8220;endpoint&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/api-prd-nyt.theathletic.com\/graphql&#8221;}<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was obviously pretty sick in Miami, but I still wanted to give us a chance to go out there and do something,\u201d Embiid said. \u201cI didn\u2019t sleep the night before, but I felt better going into Washington. I didn\u2019t make it to shootaround. But when I found out after that I wasn\u2019t playing, it caught me off guard. It pissed me off.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it doesn\u2019t matter what I think. I have to follow directions.\u201d<\/p>\n<div data-ath-video-stream=\"MWSezY3ATG2tHNO\" data-horizontal=\"4\" data-vertical=\"5\" data-restricted-countries=\"BI,BY,CD,CF,CU,IQ,IR,KP,LB,LY,ML,NI,RU,SD,SO,SS,SY,UA,VE,YE,ZW\" data-restricted-countries-mode=\"block\" data-thumbnail-url style=\"padding:0\">\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:538px\"><\/div>\n<p>      <span data-type=\"application\/dash+xml\" data-source=\"https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/MWSezY3ATG2tHNO\/pcivigUYoWdX\/pcivigUYoWdX.mpd\"><\/span><br \/>\n      <span data-type=\"application\/x-mpegURL\" data-source=\"https:\/\/video.nyt.com\/athletic\/streams\/MWSezY3ATG2tHNO\/pcivigUYoWdX\/pcivigUYoWdX.m3u8\"><\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<p>A league source told <em>The Athletic<\/em> that the organization, in consultation with the team physician, decided to hold Embiid out of Wednesday\u2019s game because he had been fighting the illness for three consecutive days and had missed the shootaround.<\/p>\n<p>Embiid, however, disagreed with the decision and stated his desire to play. Later that afternoon, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JoelEmbiid\/status\/2039441004932018377\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">he posted on X:<\/a> \u201cI guess they won\u2019t let me play basketball!!!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The comments come as the 76ers (43-34) are playing some of their best basketball of the season, having won four of their last five games to climb from ninth to sixth in the Eastern Conference standings. In Friday\u2019s win over the Timberwolves, they played arguably their best two-way half of the season in the third and fourth quarters.<\/p>\n<p>Embiid, after a rough first half, was terrific in the second while shutting down the paint. While he has been terrific offensively when healthy, he has largely struggled defensively.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was sensational defensively,\u201d Sixers coach Nick Nurse said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad-container\">\n<div class=\"ad-wrapper article-treatment\">\n<div class=\"ad-slug-container\">\n<p class=\"ad-slug\">Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"mid2\" data-position=\"mid2\" class=\"ad place-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The 76ers\u2019 recent success makes it even more important for Embiid to get on the same page with management. For perhaps the first time all season, Philadelphia is gelling as a unit. The main characters are healthy, with Tyrese Maxey and Paul George recently returning to the lineup from injury and suspension, respectively.<\/p>\n<p>The Sixers will play the Detroit Pistons on Saturday in another important matchup as they try to avoid the Play-In Tournament. Embiid, who has not played in both ends of a back-to-back all season, alluded to the possibility of suiting up.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, for now, there\u2019s little doubt that he and the 76ers need to mend some fences.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PHILADELPHIA \u2014 One hour after the Philadelphia 76ers captured their 43rd win in one of their most complete performances of the season, star center Joel Embiid voiced frustration with the organization \u2014 and general manager Daryl Morey \u2014 over not playing in a game earlier in the week. \u201cI was pissed off,\u201d Embiid said Friday [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-1864910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1864910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1864910\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1864910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1864910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1864910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}