NBA investigation likely after Joel Embiid's late scratch

Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone complained after his team's 111-105 victory on Saturday that Embiid was pulled from the starting lineup minutes before tip-off, despite the star not being on the injury report.

"I don’t know how you go from being active, available to out,” Malone told reporters. “I’m sure the league will do their due diligence because that’s frowned upon. We’ve had situations this year where we talked to the league. They told us if a player goes from active to out, there’s going to be an investigation."

Embiid appeared to suffer a knee injury during a loss to the Indiana Pacers on Jan. 25, though he played 31 minutes in the game. He was still on the floor with Indiana up 26 points late in the third quarter, leaving once he'd hit 31 points (and preserved his streak of 22 straight games of 30 points or more).

The reigning MVP also sat out Philly's 130-104 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday, the 76ers' third straight defeat. He's listed as "questionable" for Tuesday's game against Golden State.

The real infraction is Philadelphia's failure to put Embiid on the injury report, and they'll likely get fined as a result. But because Embiid —wrongly or rightly — has a reputation for ducking tough road games, especially in Denver, it looks bad for him. The perceived stat-chasing against the Pacers also doesn't look great.

It also jeopardizes his chances to repeat as MVP. To be eligible for awards consideration, a player can miss 17 games at most. Embiid now has to play in 32 of his team's 37 remaining games to even be an MVP choice.

Philadelphia could have avoided controversy and a hefty fine simply by writing his name on the injury report. Now, a simple injury has turned into a controversy.