It wouldn’t be a Philadelphia 76ers season if there wasn’t a little bit of drama involving a player’s parent. After it was Mike Muscala’s father in 2018-19 that caused some drama, there is a new father taking up that mantle in 2019-20.
On Monday, an Instagram account posted a tweet from Trey Burke’s father saying that he wants his son out of Philadelphia. Burke has not played recently as Raul Neto has really taken over the backup point guard minutes. The post was then liked by Kyle O’Quinn who also has not played much recently as Norvel Pelle has taken over the backup center position.
“I like pretty much anything on Instagram that is Sixers related,” O’Quinn said at practice on Tuesday. “If you noticed, it was a tweet. It was a tweet posted on Instagram and I liked the post on Instagram. It wasn’t like I went and retweeted it, commented, shared my thoughts. To be honest, I didn’t even know that it was his dad’s Twitter handle, I’ve met him several times, but he’s always been Mr. Burke to me. I just liked it because it was a fan sharing his insight on the game.”
O’Quinn has only averaged 9.9 minutes in 17 games with the Sixers and he only received garbage time minutes against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday. With the emergence of Pelle and reading the tea leaves, it’s easy to assume that they are linked in a way for him to get his thoughts out.
“It has nothing to do with me,” he added. “It was just a Philly post and a like it just acknowledgment. If a guy goes down on another team and you like that post, am I cheering that on? I don’t think so. I’m just acknowledging it. If I want to add a comment to say my thoughts, I will, but a like is a little harmless.”
In case anybody has not seen the post, here’s what O’Quinn liked.
Trey Burke’s dad wants him out of Philly and Kyle O’Quinn liked it 🧐🧐🧐 pic.twitter.com/qbo8c36gBB
— kev (@kevtaddei) December 16, 2019
O’Quinn said he did receive some criticism, but he says it’s due to the Philly fans being who they are.
“Of course and that’s just the beauty of the Philly fans,” he said. “They’re locked in, good game, bad game. That’s just the love of Philadelphia basketball and all of the sports, I’m sure.”
Coach Brett Brown has dealt with this type of situation in the past and he had no comment on this one.
“No, I don’t,” Brown said succinctly. [lawrence-related id=21534,21514,21509]