Joel Embiid Feels Markelle Fultz Isn’t Getting Support From People Close To Him

The Philadelphia 76ers had a whirlwind of a day on Monday. The good news was that it ended on a high note, as the team beat the New York Knicks, 108-92. Every starter hit double digits in scoring, led by a 24-point outing from Dario Saric, while T.J. McConnell recorded a triple-double.

The day didn’t get off to as good of a start, though, as a piece by Kyle Neubeck of Philly Voice highlighted the issues surrounding Markelle Fultz‘s journey to get back onto the basketball court. It included a ton of bizarre nuggets, like how the team is using virtual reality with the hopes of reminding him how to shoot.

At its core, though, the story showed that a whole bunch of people want Fultz to get back onto the court, but no one seems to know the best way for him to get there. And on Monday night, Joel Embiid tried to use his influence as the face of the organization to speak up about the current situation.

Embiid appeared on NBA TV after the Sixers’ win and did not hold back, criticizing the people around Fultz who he believes aren’t giving him the correct advice and support.

“I don’t exactly know what the origin of the problems are,” Embiid said at the 5:53 mark of the video above. “I’m still trying to figure it out. But I don’t feel like a lot of people around him have had his back. He’s only 19 and that can be hard, you know, the people around you that are supposed to support you that aren’t supporting you, it’s hard. I was in that situation, especially after my first year and I needed a second surgery.”

Embiid did not specify which people around him aren’t giving Fultz the support he needs, but it still says a ton when a player of Embiid’s caliber and importance to the franchise goes on the air and calls people out like this. Hopefully it leads to something positive occurring that lead to Fultz finding his shot again and returning to the court better than ever.