Police will look into Okafor incident

Boston police are investigating an apparent nightclub scuffle involving 76ers rookie center Jahlil Okafor that took place early Thursday morning after an individual approached police Friday morning stating he was struck by Okafor during the altercation.

TMZ published a video of the incident Thursday in which Okafor is seen shouting before pushing one man and punching another.

Okafor said he reacted to heckling about the 017 Sixers, the only team in the NBA without a win. The rookie out of Duke said he told 76ers coach Brett Brown about what happened during the team’s plane ride to Houston.

A release from the Boston Police Department stated Okafor approached a group of women asking for their phone numbers, and things got physical after a verbal altercation.

“It was definitely dumb on my part,” Okafor said following a shootaround Friday, several hours before the Rockets defeated the Sixers 116114. Okafor contributed 11 points and six rebounds. “[It’s] something I’m embarrassed about. Still dealing with the league and the team, but I’m not happy about it all. We’re still going through the process of what we’re going to do.”

A Philadelphia Inquirer report indicated this was not the first time Okafor has had a runin with a heckler in his rookie season.

According to the Inquirer, he exchanged words with a heckler outside a Philadelphia nightclub in October, and as Okafor left the scene with his teammates, the heckler pointed a gun toward Okafor’s head.

According to the report, there is no police report of the incident, but the Inquirer cited a source that said the altercation was witnessed by a federal officer.

“This is not something that we dismiss,” Brown said. “We pay attention. We walk that line of doing what we need to to help educate and discipline anybody and help them understand if the situation were to present itself again how are you going to handle it.”