Joel Embiid says he didn’t cheat in the Skills Challenge, and he’s right

Embiid didn’t actually break any rules. He just ran out of balls.

Joel Embiid responded to allegations that he cheated his way through the second round of the Skills Competition on Twitter early Sunday afternoon with a meme from the documentary Roll Safe. His tweet was posted with the caption: “How can you make a pass if all three balls are gone?”

Embiid was matched up against Chicago Bulls rookie Lauri Markkanen in the final big men round of Saturday’s NBA Skills Challenge, and while Markkanen made the chest pass through the target on his second attempt, Embiid struggled and missed all three passes. Something weird happened next that social media picked up on: the 76ers big man did not continue attempting chest passes. He just kept pushing on to the next phase of the competition.

Markkanen eventually defeated Embiid before losing to Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie in the championship round, but Embiid’s presumed cheating was a story all night.

But as it turns out, Embiid didn’t cheat at all. Contestants only get three balls to attempt a chest pass. Once they run out, they can move on to the next step. The thought process here is probably that if it takes a player three attempts to make a chest pass, like Embiid, he’s probably going to lose anyway.

Looks like Embiid was right all along: Can’t make a chest pass if there ain’t a ball left.