Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid, Miami Heat's Hassan Whiteside have Twitter beef

Oct. 14 (UPI) -- It's still the NBA preseason and there is already a high-profile Twitter beef.

Philadelphia 76ers big man Joel Embiid and Miami Heat seven-footer Hassan Whiteside had a back-and-forth Friday night on the social media platform.

The exchange began after the Sixers' 119-95 win against the Heat at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo.

Whiteside posted seven points and had three rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 11 minutes. He also had four personal fouls. Embiid had five points, seven rebounds, an assist and a block in 15 minutes. He also had three fouls. Embiid was 1-for-7 from the floor.

The two were all over each other from the opening whistle, as each registered a blocked shot on the other. When Whiteside picked up his third foul in the first quarter, Embiid signaled to the Heat's bench to take him out.

After the game, a fan tweeted: "Joel Embiid u funny saying someone can't guard u when ur 1-7 respect [Whiteside]."

Whiteside responded by tweeting: "the media won't show that."

He also responded to a post from Bleacher Report.

"Funny how y'all don't show me telling him the same and 1-7 shooting or the first two flops I mean blocks. Lol y'all fan boys I swear," he tweeted.

Five minutes later, Embiid got Twitter fingers.

"Dude they had to take your [expletive] out or you would've fouled out in 5 min... And we're talking about Preseason, not regular season..... #Softy." Embiid tweeted.

"And keep caring about stats and not your team success..... your +/- was [expletive] @youngwhiteside #Softy," he added.

Embiid also made dig at Kevin Durant, writing: "My bad y'all , I thought I was using my burner account #TheProcess."

Whiteside fired back by calling out Embiid for his lack of on court experience.

"@JoelEmbiid 31 games in 3yrs," Whiteside tweeted. "Hopefully I get to see you regular season #SolarEclipse #EmbiidEclipse."

The Heat and the Sixers face off on Feb. 2 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia during the regular season.