National Basketball Association

Jahlil Okafor Says No More Drama This Year

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Philadelphia 76ers big man Jahlil Okafor addressed his troubles from last year, and said that it wouldn’t happen again this season.

Philadelphia 76ers media day took place on Monday, and the players had their first chance to address the media as a whole before training camp and the preseason begins. For Jahlil Okafor, it was a good time to clear up some troubles that occurred from last season.

Okafor had some rookie road bumps over the past season, and was not looked at highly for those. Okafor, near Thanksgiving, got into a street fight outside of a bar in Boston after a tough road loss to the Celtics. Reportedly, it was a fan who had been heckling Okafor for a while.

Okafor also was pulled over for going well over 100 miles per hour on the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, got caught using a fake ID, and had a gun pointed at him at an Old City night club.

When facing the media on Monday, Okafor wasn’t shying away from his mistakes.

#Sixers Okafor: 'it's no secret I got in trouble (last year). I knew when I was doing it it was wrong. It won't happen again.' #NBA

— Tom Moore (@tmoore76ers) September 26, 2016

Okafor, as well as the Sixers, went away from addressing the issues last season. Okafor did get suspended for two games, but aside from that, it was a taboo topic with the team and especially with Okafor.

It’s good to see that Okafor is addressing what happened last year, and that he knows it wasn’t okay. This is also the first time we are seeing him say that it won’t happen again this upcoming season. Of course, he was probably never planning on anything like that happening, but he’s coming into this season much more mature than last season.

Okafor and the Sixers open training camp at Stockton University in New Jersey on Tuesday, and will go through the week before they open up their preseason. The team has to eventually slim their roster from 20 players to just 15. Okafor will be a lock.