Joel Embiid is the clear punching bag of this NBA season.
Already, he has a strange injury situation, a suspension for shoving a local columnist, an ejection for disrespecting a referee, and numerous bad games. It’s so bad that more than 1,000 miles away in Minneapolis, FanDuel Sports Network North game analyst Jim Peterson delivered an epic ripping of Embiid in a game that did not even involve the 2022 NBA MVP or his Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night.
After a foul by Victor Wembanyama sent Minnesota center Rudy Gobert to the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, Peterson called out the young San Antonio Spurs star for flopping. That clearly reminded him of the play that led to Embiid’s ejection, in which Embiid became frustrated by Wembanyama’s tricky tactics as well.
But despite agreeing with Embiid about Wembanyama, Peterson proceeded to shred Embiid for nearly a minute on the broadcast.
“Embiid got tossed for complaining about a flop that ‘Wemby’ went to,” Peterson said. “There’s so much that bothers me about this video. First of all, he got really angry. I wish he was as angry about not playing as he is about a call a referee gave him. The second part of it is that he is the ultimate flopper. Is there a worse flopper in the game than Joel Embiid? That guy gets so many calls. And for him to be that angry about a flop, he’s got a lot of nerve.”
Truly insane stuff from Wolves commentator going after Embiid…
“I wish he’d be as angry about not playing games as he is about a call… Is there a worse flopper in the game than Joel Embiid?”
In the closing minutes of a close game…
How is this real?pic.twitter.com/B0xv2gAPPl
— Josh Reynolds (@JoshReynolds24) December 30, 2024
Clearly Peterson doesn’t believe Embiid deserves the benefit of the doubt when it comes to foul calls, even against a supposed fellow flopper like Wembanyama.
But what Peterson fails to consider is that perhaps the frustration that bubbled up in Embiid’s ejection-worthy freak-out earlier in December comes from his lack of availability. Not to make an excuse for Embiid, but he clearly is far more reactionary this season than ever before. That would seem to indicate he is indeed very frustrated about not playing.
This whole rant is not dissimilar to the one written by Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes, which led Embiid to shove him in the locker room early in the season. The only difference is that Hayes made it personal by referencing Embiid’s son and late brother.
Even prior to this unfortunate season for Embiid, broadcasters like TNT’s Stan Van Gundy have let it rip when they called Embiid’s games. NBA media is uniquely opposed to the big man.
Yet Peterson takes the cake by finding time to scorch Embiid in a game where the big man wasn’t playing, a week after the incident in question.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.