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Is Joel Embiid faking an injury?

Let me be the first to say: No, Joel Embiid is (probably) not faking an injury.

That said, a notorious local sports radio personality is suggesting that may be the case.

Howard Eskin Tweeted that the circumstances of Embiid's absence from the Philadelphia 76ers' Christmas Day game against the Heat smell fishy to him. Eskin says he heard that Embiid asked the team to charter a private jet for him to get to the evening game in Miami after spending Christmas morning at home in Philadelphia.

Eskin adds that Embiid fell in the first quarter of the team's most recent game, but played the rest of the way that evening, and is suspicious of why he could play the rest of that game but not the Christmas Day game.

A few observations here. One, players can often play through injuries the night they happen and find they're stiffer the next day. They're looser and possibly running off adrenaline in-game. After a night of rest, joints and muscles can stiffen.

Secondly, Eskin never says the team denied Embiid's request for a private jet. It's entirely possible, based on what we know now, that the request was actually granted, which would make him faking an injury to skip the game entirely pointless.

Sure, it's possible that this hare-brained theory is possible in the sense that anything is possible, but Embiid, despite some here-and-there injury history throughout his career, is not generally one to shy away from a chance at a big game, like one on Christmas Day.