Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has been suspended three games for a postgame incident in which he shoved a columnist, NBA announced in a statement shared on Tuesday (November 5).
The incident took place in the Sixers' locker room following the team's home 124-107 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday (November 2).
"Mutual respect is paramount to the relationship between players and media in the NBA," said Basketball Hall of Famer Joe Dumars, NBA Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations, in a statement shared by the league.
Embiid's suspension is set to begin with the next NBA regular season game in which he's eligible to play as he's already missed the Sixers' first six games due to a knee injury.
Embiid, 30, the 2023 NBA MVP, tore his meniscus late in the 2023-24 season and returned for the first-round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, at which point he re-aggravated the injury, but still managed to represent the United States during its gold medal run at the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer. The Cameroon native averaged a career-best 34.7 points per game, as well as 11.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists last season and has a career average of 27.9 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists in eight seasons, having missed the first two years of his NBA career due to injury.
The Sixers are 1-5 through their first six games of the 2024-25 NBA season in Embiid's absence.