There’s no denying that Joel Embiid is one of the most entertaining athletes in the world.However, his antics don’t always have a positive effect on everyone around him.Along the way, he has developed a couple of rivals. One of them is center Hassan Whiteside of the Miami Heat.Stemming from drama during and directly after a preseason game before this season tipped off, it’s clear that the two aren’t big fans of one another. On Thursday, Whiteside’s Heat got the best of Embiid’s Sixers by the score of 108-99. In that matchup, Whiteside also clearly got the best of Embiid in their positional battle, posting 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting along with eight rebounds, two assists, a steal and two blocks in just 29 minutes. Embiid had just 17 points on 5-of-18 shooting with seven rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes.One play in particular sparked some drama between the two big men, though.The two got tangled up running down the floor on one play and Whiteside appeared to swing his forearm at Embiid’s back. After the officials looked at the replay, Whiteside was assessed a technical foul while Embiid was given a personal foul.“He tried to hit me in the back, which is kind of dirty because of the fact that I’ve had back problems,” Embiid told reporters after the game.“We’re going to see about that. I won’t forget about that.”“I was falling forward, he tried to throw an elbow,” Whiteside said in his defense. “I put my hand up and my hand hit my face.”

“I didn’t think I touched him,” Embiid added. “But then they called a technical foul on him because obviously he’s the one that made a dirty play.”

Then, Embiid got even more personal.

“He hits really soft, so I didn’t feel anything,” Embiid said. “But just the action of him trying to do that I think is pretty messed up. I don’t care what we have outside of basketball but at the same time, you’ve got to respect the rules of basketball and play basketball and have fun doing it. But I’m not worried about it. We lost the game. Right now I’m worried about are we going to get better.”

As a response, Whiteside claims that he’s done talking to Embiid.

“I’m not talking no more, no more talking,” Whiteside explained. “No more talking. 2018, when he talks, no more.”

Whiteside also said that Embiid is “just another dude. He just talks more.”

The two teams are not slated to play each other again during the regular season since they already squared off four times. However, there is a possibility that they could meet in the playoffs.

It will be interesting to see how this rivalry progresses in the future.