Charles Barkley didn’t hold back on the 76ers and the idea of load management on “Inside the NBA” on Thursday night.
It came out on Wednesday, via ESPN’s Shams Charania, that the NBA was investigating the 76ers and the participation of star Joel Embiid.
It led to one of Barkley’s trademark rants on the TNT program.
“Man, I don’t have any idea what the Sixers are doing. I don’t think it’s fair,” Barkley said. “[Embiid] just signed for three years, $193 million. Three years, $193 million to play basketball. We’re not steelworkers, we’re not nurses, like people who’ve got real jobs who have to work 40-50 hours a week. We’re playing basketball at the most four days a week. Most of the time three days a week. He has the best backup in the league in [Andre] Drummond.
“If they had to say it — and Kenny [Smith] and Shaq [O’Neal] know this – just say hey I’m going to play 25 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back. Or then Drummond plays, but to come out and say it in advance was stupidity by the Sixers. Period.”
Embiid did not play in Wednesday’s season opener against the Bucks, and he won’t play Friday and Sunday due to what the team has described as left knee management.
Per the NBA’s player participation policy, the league investigates any time a superstar doesn’t partake in a nationally televised game.
Embiid had also skipped the entirety of the preseason due to left knee management.
President of basketball operations Daryl Morey told ESPN earlier this month that the organization would try not to play Embiid or Paul George in back-to-backs.
“We’re going to be smart about it. Part of being smart about it is having both Paul [George] and Joel probably not play many back-to-backs, if any,” Morey told the outlet,
