The Philadelphia 76ers are not exactly going through their best moments right now. They have lost their last five games and have won only two out of 14. Placed at the very bottom of the Eastern Conference standings, some serious changes are expected sooner rather than later.
Embiid Fires Back: 76ers Star Denies Lack of Effort
The locker room is trying their best to stay united, even though the results are not what they desired. In addition, they have recently faced one of the worst things for team morale: leaked internal conversations.
Internal problems revealed
After their loss to the Miami Heat, a team conversation was leaked to ‘ESPN‘ reporter Shams Charania, who outlined Tyrese Maxey’s tough words toward Joel Embiid after calling him out for not reporting to team activities on time, among other details.
Paul George addressed the situation and expressed his shock during an episode of ‘Podcast P with Paul George‘, a media platform owned by the shooting guard where he has the freedom to speak his mind. He was joined by Reggie Jackson, who also shared his thoughts.
“I don’t know how in hell it got leaked. The whole meeting was just normal in the NBA, teams go through that. I’ve been on multiple teams where we would have a meeting and a check-in if things are not going right. It was a positive conversation, a healthy conversation. We are a team that cares about what’s going on,” Paul George said.
Reggie Jackson basically agreed with George and added, “It was a positive meeting. We really sat there, talked about the game, and discussed things we think we can improve on. I am just probably sitting here wondering how it got out.”
Nobody in the Philadelphia 76ers can explain how it leaked, as things like this should be kept private. It negatively affects everyone on the team, as some players may not feel they can speak freely or talk openly with their teammates.
Time to change and deliver
Joel Embiid, on the other hand, was deeply affected by this. As mentioned, in the leaked conversation, Tyrese Maxey called him out for being late to team activities. In a press conference after Wednesday’s defeat to the Memphis Grizzlies, Embiid expressed his anger, saying, “Whoever leaked that is a real piece of s-t.“
The player also shared his thoughts afterwards:
“It’s kind of annoying, having to deal with the same things over and over and over,” Embiid told reporters. “All I am trying to do is focus on basketball and be the best I can be for my family, on and off the court. But for some reason, it just feels like negativity keeps following me, which I don’t understand why. It’s a shame, but it doesn’t change the fact that we still have to do better as a team. Right now, we don’t have a lot of margin for error.“
It is now time to move on from this and focus on the upcoming games, as winning is the only way to forget about past losses.
