Joel Embiid took his rivalry with Hassan Whiteside from the court to the Twitter arena, much to the delight of the Philadelphia 76ers and NBA fans alike.
It appears there’s no such thing as just an average preseason game in the modern-day NBA.
You can thank social media phenom Joel Embiid for his latest addition to an already glittering Twitter history.
Following their 119-95 win over the Miami Heat, the Philadelphia 76ers‘ center jumped head-first into a Twitter spat with Heat center Hassan Whiteside.
It began on the court, where Embiid managed to draw three fouls on Whiteside within the first three minutes of the game. Following the third foul, Embiid baited Whiteside by motioning to the Heat bench to remove from him from the game.
Joel Embiid yells at the Heat bench to take Whiteside out of the game.https://t.co/vflEBJs2vB
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) October 14, 2017
Come the end the game, the contributions of each player were negligible, with Embiid recording five points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes, while Whiteside registered seven points, three rebounds and two blocks in 10 minutes.
But after the game is when the fireworks began.
It all commenced when Whiteside responded to a tweet from Bleacher Report highlighting the moment where Embiid asked for him to be taken out of the game:
https://twitter.com/youngwhiteside/status/919044551804891136
Then a fan tweeted both Embiid and Whiteside, to which Whiteside quickly replied:
https://twitter.com/youngwhiteside/status/919040930845483008
Naturally, there was no way Embiid was going to let this slide:
Dude they had to take your ass out or you would’ve fouled out in 5 min... And we’re talking about Preseason, not regular season..... #Softy https://t.co/IAIBDDypFK
— Joel “Troel” Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 14, 2017
Within just three hours, this hilarious response had received nearly 11,000 retweets and over 22,000 likes. He also added:
And keep caring about stats and not your team success..... your +/- was ass @youngwhiteside #Softy
— Joel “Troel” Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 14, 2017
At this point, it appears things are getting a little more personal than just a friendly jibe at one another. Therefore, Whiteside had to fire back:
https://twitter.com/youngwhiteside/status/919054147160289280
But as is his custom, Embiid would have the final say. Firstly, he took a swipe at Kevin Durant, and his infamous recent social media transgressions:
My bad y’all , I thought I was using my burner account #TheProcess
— Joel “Troel” Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) October 14, 2017
He followed this up with the exclamation point in his feud with a classic Instagram post using Whiteside’s name as his check-in location:
In terms of regular season action, Embiid and Whiteside have had just one meeting up until this point, with the Sixers defeating the Heat, 101-94. While Embiid posted 22 points, five rebounds and three blocks, Whiteside starred in registering 32 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks. However at the time of the contest, Embiid was on a minutes restriction, therefore playing just 24 minutes for the game.
Unfortunately for Embiid, Whiteside and the wider NBA community, their next matchup isn’t until Feb. 2, when the Sixers play host to the Heat in a game televised on ESPN. Considering both teams are highly favored to advance to the postseason, it could be one of the most anticipated contests of the regular season.
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In the meantime, we can only hope that the duo can continue to provide priceless entertainment with their social media beef.