“We are aware of reports of an incident in the Sixers locker room this evening and are conducting an investigation.”

“The moment Joel realized he was there, he got into a verbal back and forth. Of course, we can't repeat many of the words that were said on this show. The gist of it was essentially, “You can say I suck, you can say whatever you want about me as a player.” Don't ever put my dead brother's name in your mouth. Don't talk about my family. Don't involve them in it. “You want to talk to me like a man and talk to me about basketball, that’s different, but if you ever talk about my family again we’re going to have real problems.”

“They kind of go back and forth and at some point, say 90 seconds to two minutes into that back and forth, Joel pushes him.

“Joel Embiid repeatedly points to the birth of his son Arthur as the pivotal turning point in his basketball career. He often says he wants to be great, to leave a legacy for the boy named after his little brother, who tragically died in a car accident when Embiid was in his first year as a 76er.

“Well, to be great at your job, you first have to show up for work. In fact, Embiid was great. Now in his eleventh season, he has been in consistently poor form. This poor condition seems to have delayed his debut this season.

“If your body doesn’t respond well and your body tells you one thing – I did it. From what I can tell you, I broke my face twice, came back early with the risk of losing my eyesight, had broken fingers and still came back. So I'm not going to sit here and say, “I see people saying, 'He doesn't want to play.'” I've done way too much for this city and put myself at risk of people saying that. I do think it's bullshit.

“Like that guy, he's not here, Marcus, whatever his name is, I've done way too much for this damn town to be treated like that. Done way too damn much. I wish I was as lucky as others, but that doesn't mean I'm not trying and doing whatever it takes to be out there, which I will be pretty soon.”