NEW YORK (AFP) — Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has been suspended for three games without pay for shoving a journalist, the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced on Tuesday.

The incident occurred between the Cameroon-born big man and a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist who recently wrote a commentary critical of the player which referenced Embiid’s son and late brother.

“Mutual respect is paramount to the relationship between players and media in the NBA,” league executive vice president and head of basketball operations Joe Dumars said in a statement.

“While we understand Joel was offended by the personal nature of the original version of the reporter’s column, interactions must remain professional on both sides and can never turn physical.”

The league said Embiid’s suspension would begin with the next regular-season game “for which he is eligible and able to play.”

Embiid, the 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player who also played on the United States’ gold medal-winning Olympic squad this year, has missed all six of Philadelphia’s games so far this season for management of his surgically repaired left knee.

In his absence the 76ers are off to a 1-5 start to the season, including an agonizing 118-116 loss to the Suns on Monday.

Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse said before that game that he had spoken with Embiid in the wake of the altercation with Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes, who questioned Embiid’s commitment to “greatness” in an opinion piece in which he invoked Embiid’s young son Arthur and his late brother, also named Arthur, who died in an automobile accident when Embiid was in his first year with the Sixers.

“As always, I asked how he was feeling first of all and tried to get him locked into what we’re doing,” Nurse said, adding that the team had been able to get Embiid more involved but did not yet know when he would be ready to play.”