Sixers Suspend Ben Simmons For One Game

[Bornstellar]

How long is Philly going to keep this circus going? I'm sure the players are beyond fed up at this point

[Educator]

If I were the Sixers I would straight up tell Ben that I am not even going to attempt to look for a trade at all, no matter what the circumstances are, and that I am not going to pay him either unless he shows up and puts forth the effort. If he doesn't like it, tough.

NBA franchises are multi billion $ businesses

Having a max player sit is bad business

Sixers are paying Morey $10 million p.a. to handle this and he has fkd up

Simmons should have been traded before draft night but Morey is still waiting on an unicorn to deliver Dame

You know what else is bad business? Trading a 25 year old player with a four year max contract for scraps. If Ben Simmons wants to get paid to play basketball, he has one option, and that's to show up and do his job. It's time for him to put on his big boy pants. If he thinks alleging injuries will successfully get him paid after arbitration, he is mistaken.

[NyKnicks1714]

Unsure if Howard Eskin's legit, but he does have a blue checkmark. Sixer fans are free to help me on this, so anyway:

Read on Twitter

So Howard IS sorta piggybacking off Shams' report, but to be fair he does add the part about the team not being happy he "went down this road" and fining him every game.

Honestly, I"m not sure how Simmons plays with how things are anyway, but still....

Back injury involving the nerves is hard to prove/disprove. Mental illness is impossible to disprove short of the Sixers having some kind of recording of Simmons saying he was deliberately going to 'fake it'.

To be fair to Simmons, he's not actually claiming to have a mental illness (Edit: I might be wrong on this), he just said he's not mentally ready to play, which is probably true. But yes, the back injury is one of those things that's so obviously bs with no way to prove it's bs.

[robillionaire]

If I were the Sixers I would straight up tell Ben that I am not even going to attempt to look for a trade at all, no matter what the circumstances are, and that I am not going to pay him either unless he shows up and puts forth the effort. If he doesn't like it, tough.

you can't force him to put forth an effort and it will get to the point where him showing up hurts the team, one way or another he is getting paid

[reflex35]

How long is Philly going to keep this circus going? I'm sure the players are beyond fed up at this point

You really think so?

Embiid is probably smiling and thinking or even saying to front office to fine Ben's ass.

[Young gun 6]

Unsure if Howard Eskin's legit, but he does have a blue checkmark. Sixer fans are free to help me on this, so anyway:

Read on Twitter

So Howard IS sorta piggybacking off Shams' report, but to be fair he does add the part about the team not being happy he "went down this road" and fining him every game.

Honestly, I"m not sure how Simmons plays with how things are anyway, but still....

Back injury involving the nerves is hard to prove/disprove. Mental illness is impossible to disprove short of the Sixers having some kind of recording of Simmons saying he was deliberately going to 'fake it'.

The mental health side doesn’t mean he gets paid though does it? He’d have some sick days to use for this but once that’s up he would then just be breaching his contract.

That’s fine though he can sit at home and work on his ‘mental health’ and then when he’s ready to honour his contract again he’ll get paid.

If I sat at home for months with mental health and I’d used all my sick leave, would I still get paid? I damn hope not.

[Bornstellar]

How long is Philly going to keep this circus going? I'm sure the players are beyond fed up at this point

You really think so?

Embiid is probably smiling and thinking or even saying to front office to fine Ben's ass.

Yeah man I'm sure Embiid is enjoying his team wasting a year of his prime and endless questions about the situation from the media.

[Sothron]

I've watched the NBA since 1979. I've never seen anyone get treated the way Simmons did after the loss to the Hawks. Tragic Johnson for the Lakers anyone? Yeah, that's nothing compared to this. Ben got death threats from insane Philly fans. He got thrown under the bus not just by his coach and Embiid but the entire city of Philly crucified this guy.

You can't say he is just faking mental illness or some kind of mental anguish about going out there just to get tarred and feathered by the Philly fans because Morey failed in his job to trade Ben in the offseason. Not wanting to play in front of fans and local media that spend every day since the Hawks loss roasting you and gleefully waiting for you to come back so they can hate on you is a normal human reaction. You add in the death threats and the fact the franchise turned its back on Simmons and yeah...I can actually believe he has a mental illness about playing for the Sixers.

You can say its BS. It might be. It might NOT be. Only Simmons and a trained expert(s) would know that. The best solution was trading him in the offseason. Since that didn't happen pay the man to stay home and go about your business trying to win games without him. And now that Ben is using mental illness as a reason why he can't play that's the same as being physically injured. The Sixers have to pay him. They can't withhold money just because they assume he's lying.

[DusterBuster]

Unsure if Howard Eskin's legit, but he does have a blue checkmark. Sixer fans are free to help me on this, so anyway:

Read on Twitter

So Howard IS sorta piggybacking off Shams' report, but to be fair he does add the part about the team not being happy he "went down this road" and fining him every game.

Honestly, I"m not sure how Simmons plays with how things are anyway, but still....

Back injury involving the nerves is hard to prove/disprove. Mental illness is impossible to disprove short of the Sixers having some kind of recording of Simmons saying he was deliberately going to 'fake it'.

To be fair to Simmons, he's not actually claiming to have a mental illness, he just said he's not mentally ready to play, which is probably true. But yes, the back injury is one of those things that's so obviously bs with no way to prove it's bs.

I'm sure it's true he's not "mentally ready to play", but why would that ever change in Philly? He's burned bridges with every living being in that city and organization.

[reflex35]

How long is Philly going to keep this circus going? I'm sure the players are beyond fed up at this point

You really think so?

Embiid is probably smiling and thinking or even saying to front office to fine Ben's ass.

Yeah man I'm sure Embiid is enjoying his team wasting a year of his prime and endless questions about the situation from the media.

He loves the attention and does not care about questions about little Benny. Probably even loves to make fun out of Ben.

[robillionaire]

at this rate philly might just have to stretch waive him and pay him 16 million a season for the next 7 years. sad.

[NyKnicks1714]

I've watched the NBA since 1979. I've never seen anyone get treated the way Simmons did after the loss to the Hawks. Tragic Johnson for the Lakers anyone? Yeah, that's nothing compared to this. Ben got death threats from insane Philly fans. He got thrown under the bus not just by his coach and Embiid but the entire city of Philly crucified this guy.

No he didn't.

[OkcSinceSGA]

76ers fans who said the Sixers were back in control LOL. Now his value continues to drop as he’s acting like he has emotional issues and a back problem. This is what the Sixers kinda get for playing with fire and trying to build his value back up, with the impression he would cooperate. See James Harden..

[levon]

Philly is going to lose long-term on this despite what fans might consider a short term victory in this game of chicken. They might have already lost leaguewide

[Pelon chingon]

Even injured players sit on the bench. And to everyone who says this is a 100% shield from being fined I wouldn't be so sure there would need to be strongly worded language in the CBA to back that claim. Players have dealt with REAL trauma before and took some time off but that was because the team green lighted it and Morey is obviously playing hard ball.

[bebopdeluxe]

As a Sixers fan, it’s a train wreck for us and good for 29 other teams

Ummm...no.

.

Please explain how this benefits the Sixers

It benefits the Sixers because the PLAYERS ON THE TEAM - you know, the ones who aren't throwing a temper tantrum and having a pity party because THEY SAID SOMETHING THAT WASN'T UNAMBIGUOUSLY PRAISEWORTHY about me - see the Sixers organization taking a stand against this jabroni holdout. They see that Morey is comfortable enough going to war with the players they have, and that they are confident that this team is good enough to win games without giving Simmons away for 20 cents on the dollar.

It also benefits the Sixers because it sends a STRONG message to Embiid that it is HIS TEAM. I think that Embiid is embracing that as well. Listen to his comments after the game last night how - instead of staying in his hotel room playing video games - he joined the players for a dinner together on the road (something that JJ Redick criticized the team for not doing enough when he was there). The bonding that is happening through this is HUGE.

Fine if you don't agree.

[cavsfanatic]

What is he even worth at this point? Sexton/Love? CJ and a first? Indy is out,,,does anyone want to deal with this guy at his salary?

[clippertown]

The fastest way to get traded is string together some good games, not all this crap he's doing. DSJ quit on the mavs and went home a couple years ago, wanted a trade and was convinced that wasn't the route, came back got a triple double against the Knicks and was traded the next day.

Ben does not want to be traded to any team that makes an offer. He wants to be traded to a team of his choice. The mental issues is just an excuse to ensure that any team considering him understand that his mental issues will remain till he is playing in LA.

[BlazersBroncos]

I am done with wanting Simmons in PDX. Marginalizing mental illness to get out of having to suit up is the last straw for me. Its the first time his actions have been legitimately a moral wrong IMO. Before this he was just a douch.

[ciueli]

Unsure if Howard Eskin's legit, but he does have a blue checkmark. Sixer fans are free to help me on this, so anyway:

Read on Twitter

So Howard IS sorta piggybacking off Shams' report, but to be fair he does add the part about the team not being happy he "went down this road" and fining him every game.

Honestly, I"m not sure how Simmons plays with how things are anyway, but still....

Back injury involving the nerves is hard to prove/disprove. Mental illness is impossible to disprove short of the Sixers having some kind of recording of Simmons saying he was deliberately going to 'fake it'.

To be fair to Simmons, he's not actually claiming to have a mental illness (Edit: I might be wrong on this), he just said he's not mentally ready to play, which is probably true. But yes, the back injury is one of those things that's so obviously bs with no way to prove it's bs.

https://www.foxsports.com/nba/ben-simmons-player-injuries

He actually had back issues last season, and also some knee issues. So it's actually very believable, there are many players who play through injuries every season.