The Philadelphia 76ers were fined $75,000 by the NBA on Thursday for violating injury reporting rules but were found not to have violated Player Participation Policy rules for benching Joel Embiid.
The NBA also issued a $25,000 fine to the New Orleans Pelicans for an inaccurate injury report.
The league punished the Sixers for failing to include reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Embiid on the team’s injury report in an accurate and timely manner for Saturday’s 111-105 loss at the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets.
Cameroonian star Embiid missed the nationally televised showdown between top clubs from each conference but the NBA said a league review concluded there was no violation of new rules fighting stars missing major games because Embiid’s absence was due to a confirmed injury.
The fine amount does, however, take into account the 76ers’ history of fines for injury reporting violations, a league statement said.
Embiid missed two games with left knee soreness before returning on Tuesday and suffering greater injury to his left knee in a 119-107 loss at Golden State.
Fighting for a loose ball, Embiid wound up with his back on the court and Golden State’s Jonathan Kuminga fell onto the 76ers’ star’s left knee.
Embiid screamed in pain and later limped off the court. He has been ruled out of Thursday’s game at Utah by the Sixers while he undergoes further injury evaluation.
Embiid is the NBA’s leading scorer with 35.3 points a game and also has 11.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists a game.
But he has played in only 34 games so far this season while the 76ers have gone 29-17, fifth in the Eastern Conference.
Embiid can miss only five more games and remain eligible for the MVP and other awards because of a new NBA rule requiring a minimum of 65 games played to qualify.
The Pelicans’ fine came for failing to include Trey Murphy III on the team’s injury report for Saturday’s 141-117 loss at Milwaukee.
