Tony Kornheiser does not trust the Philadelphia 76ers’ process regarding Joel Embiid.
After playing 39 games last season, Embiid sat out Wednesday’s season-opening loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. The 30-year-old center is expected to miss their next two games this week as the 76ers focus on keeping him healthy for the playoffs. Embiid and president of basketball operations Daryl Morey told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps that they don’t anticipate the MVP playing many, if any, back-to-back games this season.
On Thursday’s Pardon The Interruption, Kornheiser flippantly asked if Morey, owner Josh Harris, or 76ers legend Julius Erving determine the blueprint for when Embiid plays. Kornheiser told longtime co-host Michael Wilbon that Embiid “gets hurt every single year” and lamented Philadelphia fans getting fewer opportunities to see the team’s star player.
“The plan’s about the playoffs. The playoffs are in May and June. This now is October. You have to go through 82 games before you get to the playoffs,” Kornheiser said, per Awful Announcing. “And how much money have the people who have bought season tickets paid to see this guy, who’s not out there playing? To me, this is consumer fraud.”
This year’s DC Hall of Fame inductee, former Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser reacts to the crowd as he receives the honor at Nationals Park July 09, 2017 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Kornheiser isn’t the only pundit critical of the situation. On Wednesday night’s Inside The NBA, Charles Barkley said he was “so disappointed” in Embiid saying he doesn’t expect to play back-to-back games.
“You’re one of the three or four or five best players in the world,” Barkley said. “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 … I thought that was a bad message.”
Shaquille O’Neal added that the approach “doesn’t make sense” in a less physical NBA in which Embiid is often playing on the perimeter.
Without Embiid, the 76ers lost 124-109 to the Bucks at Wells Fargo Center. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the NBA will investigate the team regarding its player participation policy.
Related: Report: NBA Is Set To Investigate Sixers Over Joel Embiid