A late Joel Embiid and a stern LeBron: Mike Breen's Philly story, then LeBron's denial
The broadcaster's anecdote made the short Bleacher Report's biggest start in a while, and a day later the channel posted LeBron James saying it did not happen that way.
Bleacher Report
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 897,465 views a day, 38 times a normal first day on this channel (23,640).
LeBron showing leadership in Philly 👀
The story came from Mike Breen, the longtime lead play-by-play voice of the NBA on ESPN and ABC. In the short, as the description puts it, Breen says LeBron James let Joel Embiid hear it for showing up a few minutes late to 76ers practice. That was enough to put "LeBron showing leadership in Philly 👀" in front of close to 400,000 people within seven hours of going up. A new short on Bleacher Report usually finishes its whole first day with around 24,000.
The comment section kept pace. It passed a thousand comments in those seven hours, already more than a typical short here collects in a full day. Many viewers joke that Embiid is about to be traded for Anthony Davis. Others offer him an excuse, Philadelphia traffic. A smaller group argues that practice-room talk should never reach a broadcast booth in the first place. Several say Embiid will listen to LeBron when he might not listen to anyone else.
The tale did not stand unanswered for long. The next day the channel posted "LBJ shuts down the rumors 👀", a clip from James's own Instagram in which he denies scolding Embiid over the late arrival. So the account comes from a broadcaster, and the player at the center of it has rejected it.
It was not the only locker-room moment working for the channel. "Rook is still learning 😂", in which Luka Doncic tells Sacramento Kings rookie Darius Acuff that he needs to stand on the other side for the opening tip, also ran well ahead of a usual first day. Two veterans gently correcting someone, two very different reactions in the comments: that was Bleacher Report's day.
Published on Trari
Read next
What viewers say
Embiid had to fight that philly traffic
@steejayyySee it on YouTubeThat’s dangerous, Joel not going to listen to nobody BUT LeBron 😂😂😂😂😂 If anybody can get him in shape, and on his A game, it’s LeBron.
@TruealitySee it on YouTubeIt’s the little moments like that we don’t see that causes people to come up short of a certain goal they want to achieve. It’s not just Embiid, we all go through it as human beings. It’s good to have someone by your side though that can call you out to be better
@JrRanksSee it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
Is this your channel?
Share the story with your audience: in a community post, in your channel's description or on your socials. The text and the badge are ready.
You may use the picture, the badge, and link it to this story.
- Channel
- Bleacher Report
- Subscribers
- 5,060,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 41,883,277
- Channel views, pace per day
- 5,925,295 (on a normal day: 5,269,444)
- Video published
- October 6, 2026
- Video views so far
- 399,814 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 897,465
The numbers
One short pulled far ahead of the channel's usual first day, and the comments came in even faster than the views.
💡 Test your knowledge
Joel Embiid, who won the NBA's MVP award for the 2022-23 season, grew up in which country?
Embiid was born and raised in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and took up basketball as a teenager before moving to the United States.
