Jahlil Okafor took endless crap over the weekend for seemingly disrespecting his Philadelphia 76ers jersey, but it turns out he never really mistreated the uniform at all.
Below is the video clip that made the rounds. Take note of the way Okafor, the No. 3 overall pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft, appears to discard the jersey like a dishrag:
still funny pic.twitter.com/3fMblBIBt3
— Bomani Jones (@bomani_jones) June 28, 2015
That clip led to headlines such as this from USA Today: “Jahlil Okafor drops new 76ers jersey, looks unhappy,” and this sarcastic one from Deadspin: “Jahlil Okafor Looks Pretty Excited To Play For The 76ers.”
The whole story of how this video got spun around to make it seem like Okafor had little regard for his Sixers gear is pretty funny (for anyone other than Okafor). As you can see, he handled it with care, but now there’s some public perception that he doesn’t want to be in Philly:
Video of Jahlil Okafor calmly handing his jersey to a Sixers PR guy. This is from the PCOM presser I believe. https://t.co/uuTu0TgmOc
— Kevin Kinkead (@KevinKCBS3) June 28, 2015
Maybe Okafor can commiserate with Joel Embiid. After all, the former Kansas center knows all about this sort of problem.
