Two of the best centers in the Eastern Conference, Hassan Whiteside and Joel Embiid, made a lot of headlines recently with their playful banter on Twitter. It all started during the preseason game between the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers on Friday, when Whiteside was whistled for a foul against the 7-foot Cameroonian international. He taunted the Heat bench to take their starting center out of the game, and their trolling continued on social media.
Some league players have reacted to the exchange the two have made, and it even seemed like things were getting too personal between them. However, Whiteside cleared the air recently, and said that it’s all in good fun. He then added, via Allana Tachauer of FanSided, that he loves it that fans are involved and find it entertaining.
“It’s not him talking about somebody’s family. It’s not nothing crazy. It’s just basketball. I’m going to talk trash back if somebody talks trash to me. Maybe when I was younger, I would have been a little more angrier, I’d have been a little madder. But, you know, that’s the kind of guy [Embiid] is. He makes jokes. He’s a good player, so it’s all fun to me. I can go all day with it.
“You know fans love it, man. Fans get into it. I love it, too because I know the next time we play him, he’s going to give it all, he’s going to go as hard as he can. And as a competitor, that’s what you want. You want your opponent to play at his maximum speed.”
With the Heat and Sixers both up and coming teams, they will rely heavily on their big men to take them to the playoffs. Their playful exchange will definitely add more color to their highly anticipated matchups this coming season, as they both want to prove that they are the best at their positions in their conference.
It remains to be seen if there will be more back-and-forth messages on Twitter for the two, as it has become something a lot of fans have been paying attention to. For now, it's anybody's guess if it will continue, but with how active they both are social media, it won't come as a complete surprise if the next few days will still be filled with their hilarious posts for one another.
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