Nick Piccone
I’m telling you. I’m really starting to get annoyed by all of this. Every day, something new comes out about Jahlil Okafor and it makes me want to cut my wrists off so I don’t have to write about it.
But I do. Because it’s necessary, especially considering it involves the biggest Sixers star, and one of the most popular athletes in Philly. So, here goes.
TMZ spoke with Okafor’s rep, who said that Okafor “doesn’t have a fake I.D. It never happened.” That would rival John Gonzalez’s report that Misconduct Tavern turned away Okafor for using a fake I.D. in October. However, Gonzalez has been on top of everything Okafor-related the last few days, so Okafor’s rep denying it would be the plausible way to go in this situation. So, either Okafor actually was in the bar, or he was turned away because he was obviously underage. And I’m sure we’ll find out something else about this tomorrow. Or, hell, maybe later today.
But, that’s not it. Chris Broussard of ESPN reported last night that Okafor would be accompanied by a security guard at all times starting immediately. We didn’t exactly deem it worthy of posting because, well, it’s Broussard. From his report, the request for security “came from Okafor’s handlers,” who wanted a security guard made available to Okafor when he’s out in public for non-team functions. Broussard’s source notes, “a lot of teams do that for their players anyway,” and that this is nothing new. According to the same rep for Okafor, this request for private security did not happen despite the team discussing plans to provide him with security at team events. I’m not sure why he’d need security for team events, but I’m not gonna get too involved here. We’ll just hear the opposite soon.