Okafor Fight Turns Bad Sixers Season Worse

By Sean Kennedy (@PhillyFastBreak)

Apparently TMZ never heard that the first rule of fight club is you don’t talk about fight club. Thursday afternoon, interrupting your regular scheduled turkey feast, was breaking news that Philadelphia 76ers rookie center Jahlil Okafor was engaged in an altercation Wednesday night outside a club in Boston. TMZ Sports provided a video showing Okafor pushing a man and then connecting on a wild punch that decked the guy to the ground.

Apparently, the incident began because somebody yelled, “The 76ers suck,” which is about as tame an insult as has ever been hurled to start a fight. Some NSFW words were then thrown around by Okafor, who was at the club with an unnamed teammate, which you can hear if you’d like to listen to the video.

First, this incident is clearly not a good look for Jahlil, either from a public relations perspective or financially, as the punch will almost certainly end up costing him seven figures when this is settled out of court. As much as Philly fans might joke that some loud-mouthed Boston fan deserved it, this was a clear-cut assault, which is a crime. Even if no arrests have been made at this time, you never know what could happen down the road as far as legal ramifications.

In regard to its basketball implications, there will have to be some sort of suspension issued either by the team or the league. If we want to dip into the fiery pool of hot takes for a second, people have already begun making the argument that this street fight is another indication the Sixers’ rebuilding plan is not working.

First, it’s ridiculous to think that having a couple more veterans around would stop stuff like this from happening. Gilbert Arenas was a veteran when he brought guns into the locker room to incite Javaris Crittenton. Latrell Sprewell was a veteran when he strangled his coach at practice. I could go on and on, the point being that stuff is going to happen whether you’re surrounded by rookies or 8-year veterans.

However, not to be too hot-takey myself, but I do think the team being 0-16 played a role in this fight. If the Sixers are say, 4-12, I think it’s fair to speculate that Okafor’s frustration wouldn’t be boiling over to the point where he can’t just ignore some idiot saying his team sucks. It was the night after his team’s third straight loss where they gave up a lead in the final minutes. For a guy that has probably never had a losing record in his life, let alone been winless this many games into a season, Okafor’s nerves were probably frayed on end. Not saying that’s any just cause for what happened, but I think it’s a more interesting avenue to explore than “the team doesn’t have veterans around to teach the players how to be professionals”.

With all of this controversy going on, the Sixers now have to face the Rockets tonight, looking to avoid a record-setting 27th straight loss. No word yet on what Okafor’s playing status will be for this game, but it’s hard to think the team would throw him out there in the midst of what would be a media circus. And you thought 0-16 was rock bottom. What a fun season this is turning out to be.