The NBA has fined the Philadelphia 76ers $100,000 for violating the league’s injury reporting rules on Sunday against the Atlanta Hawks. They listed Joel Embiid as being “out” for the game, though he ended up playing. Once a player is listed on the report as being out of a game, the team is expected to follow through on that claim per league rules. The league also considers a team’s history of similar violations when determining punishment for such a policy breach.

Embiid was initially listed as out for Sunday’s game against Atlanta, then upgraded to questionable before trotting onto the court minutes later, scoring 18 points in 30 minutes of the overtime loss. Embiid was returning from a knee injury that had kept him out of the previous nine games.

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Philadelphia has a history of inaccurately listing injury violations, especially involving Embiid. Late in the 2023-24 season, the team was fined $100k by the NBA for the same violation. They failed to accurately disclose Embiid’s game availability status against the OKC Thunder on April 5. The Sixers were also fined another $100k in October of 2024 for public statements regarding Embiid’s health.

Since entering the NBA, the injury bug has been attached to Embiid like a fungus. Embiid was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft but didn’t debut for the team until the 2016-17 campaign due to a foot injury. Since then, there’s been no stopping Embiid when he’s healthy. He’s a former league MVP, a seven-time All-Star, a five-time All-NBA, a three-time All-Defensive team selection, and a two-time scoring champion.

Despite all of Embiid’s accolades over the past decade, injuries have caused him to miss time during each season of his career. Embiid has never played a full NBA season, not even when back-to-back seasons were shortened (2019-2021) due to COVID. He appeared in 51 games in each of those seasons, where the team played 73 and 72 games those years.

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Over the past couple of seasons, Embiid has missed more than half of the team’s games. During the 2023-24 season, Embiid was limited to 39 games, and last year, he was able to suit up for only 19. This season, Embiid has already missed 13 of Philly’s 20 games. The Sixers are 11-9 thus far and already struggling to stay in the Eastern Conference hunt, currently sitting in ninth place in the conference.

After losing to the Hawks on Sunday, the 76ers beat the Washington Wizards 121-102 on Wednesday night, a game Embiid sat out once again. Philadelphia’s next game is on Thursday night at home against the Golden State Warriors at 7:00 p.m. ET.