The Philadelphia 76ers are going to be under a microscope all season after making two massive roster moves this summer by trading for Jaylen Brown and signing LeBron James to create a star-studded starting lineup.
There is no shortage of intrigue about how this group will pan out and how all the various egos and personalities will mesh on and off the court. Everyone wants a peek behind the curtain at how this new experiment is going, and during the MSG broadcast of Monday night's preseason opener between the Knicks and Sixers, Mike Breen, New York's longtime play-by-play announcer, offered what he thought was a harmless anecdote about James' leadership already being on display.
"Somebody told me before the game that they were out ready to practice, and Joel Embiid walked out on the court a couple of minutes late, and LeBron let him hear it," Breen said on the air.
What Breen failed to consider in the moment is that Embiid, who has a history of reported tardiness, being the other player in the story made the story go viral and eventually James took to Instagram to deny it happened, insisting Embiid "ain't been late so stop the lies."
Whether the anecdote Breen had been told and repeated on air was true or not, James knows how delicate the situation is right now and wanted to nip any questions about Embiid's professionalism in the bud to avoid it becoming a topic before the season even started.
Breen spoke with ESPN to apologize for starting an entire news cycle with his comments, and noted that while he was told the information by someone he trusts, if James says it didn't happen, he believes him.
"I don't know why the person who told me the story would make it up, but if LeBron says it never happened then I believe him and apologize for putting it out there," Breen said.
He also felt bad about not recognizing that simply by stating it was Embiid, the story would get legs and become much bigger than an announcer trying to fill time and offer a tidbit of information during a preseason broadcast.
"For me, the fact that the teammate was Joel was meaningless. In hindsight, I should have realized the fact that it was Joel is what made it a story," Breen said. "I've always been a huge fan of Joel and feel awful that it put the focus on him the way that it did."
That it took just one preseason game for this kind of silly controversy to arise is a precursor to what is to come all year for the Sixers. The good, the bad and the mundane will all be amplified, and while all parties involved seem ready to sweep this story away, there will be plenty more to come.
