UPDATE, November 2, 11:30 p.m. ET: The NBA is aware of the incident and is “initiating an investigation,” according to ESPN's Shams Charania.

The Sixers' season has gotten off to a tumultuous start, to say the least.

With stars Joel Embiid and Paul George sidelined in the first five games of the season, the team is 1-4 after an ugly 124-107 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night. The strange handling of Embiid's situation has done little to assuage concerns.

Apparently things came to a head after the game when Embiid and a reporter got into a physical altercation in the locker room after the game. According to several reporters who were at the scene, the reporter was longtime Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes. (To clarify, there was a report that a punch was thrown. The latest updates indicate that Embiid pushed Hayes.)

Embiid shared his dissatisfaction with a recent column written by Hayes. In the piece, Hayes questioned Embiid's desire to play while also remembering the former MVP's young son, Arthur, and his late brother, also named Arthur. The main image on the column showed Embiid holding his son. Eventually the image was changed and Hayes edited the story while apologizing to X.

After practice on Friday, Embiid called out Hayes by name and said the column was “bullshit.”

PHLY's Kyle Neubeck added a bit more context:

Both Embiid and George were able to fully participate in practice on Friday, including 5-on-5 scrimmaging. They appear to be close to making their debut as the team travels to the West Coast to play the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers.

One may well wonder what will become of this incident. The league will reportedly investigate what happened, which is an unfortunate norm for the Sixers these days.