Philadelphia 76ers point guard Kendall Marshall has not gotten many opportunities to contribute this season, and his father thinks that has something to do with the color of his son’s skin.
Marshall played 17 minutes of a 130-99 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers Saturday night. During that game, his father Dennis Marshall went off on the team in a Twitter rant and accused them of racism. The tweets have been deleted but were captured by a Reddit user:
As Deadspin notes, Marshall was clearly referring to Nik Stauskas when he wrote about a “shooter” shooting 27 percent from 3-point range. Point guard T.J. McConnell, another white player, has also been getting more playing time than Marshall, who is averaging just 4.3 points and 16.2 minutes per game.
Marshall apologized on Tuesday after his tweets went viral:
Situation is unfortunate. I apologize to anyone offended by my comments.I've never ran from anything & won't start now. I used bad judgement
— Dennis Marshall (@Tigerstylehoops) January 5, 2016
Anyone who knows me knows I am a stand up guy. I made a mistake. I can't take it back, but I can move on and learn from it. Which I am doing
— Dennis Marshall (@Tigerstylehoops) January 5, 2016
After Monday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves (a game in which Kendall Marshall did not play), the 24-year-old was asked about his father’s rant.
“That’s not coming out of my mouth. That’s not my social media,” he said. “He’s a grown man. It was obviously the wrong time and place to say it, but he said it. He’s apologized for it since.”
For what it’s worth, Marshall’s dad is not the only parent who is fed up with with the 76ers. Jahlil Okafor’s father was also letting Sixers coach Brett Brown hear it on Saturday night.
I'm behind Sixers bench, Okafor's Dad behind me – he's nonstop HARASSING Brett Brown. End of half Jah finally told Dad to cut it out.
— Michael H. Weber (@thisisweber) January 3, 2016
Keep in mind that this is the father of the same Okafor who recently got into multiple brawls outside a club in Boston. You can see videos of the fights here.
These are not the best of times for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Photo: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports
