The Sixers-Nets meeting Thursday night is one of the most anticipated games in South Philadelphia in recent memory, a spectacle of battles within battles within battles. There’s Kevin Durant vs. Joel Embiid, James Harden vs. his former teammates, and Ben Simmons vs. pretty much everyone. This is the last part that many are focused on, and league sources expect Simmons and his rep to file a formal complaint against the Sixers at some point in the coming days.
The expected step has been brewing for a long time. Beginning in the fall, there were many people in the Sixers organization who preferred to keep quiet on the radio about anything related to Simmons, knowing that arbitration was the likely outcome of the process. And anyone with a rudimentary understanding of finance could probably foresee it as well – no one likes to throw away $20 million, even if it’s in the bank or coming to them in the future.
It has been speculated in league circles that Simmons, who showed up for Thursday’s game, is simply setting the stage for Simmons and Klutch Sports’ argument when a complaint is filed. Reports of a beefed up security presence at Thursday’s game circulated Tuesday morning in what a cynical observer would say is designed to counter a poison aimed specifically at Simmons. However, the security team for this game was described simply as a “playoff-level team” due to a number of factors, including an increased celebrity presence and a wider media contingent, in addition to the obvious look to Simmons and the Nets. .
Put Simmons in the middle of this storm, the argument goes, and it’s considered Proof A for why Simmons couldn’t and didn’t meet his obligations to the Sixers before he was traded, why he wasn’t willing to work for this franchise before it was sold. And the debate over Simmons’ commitment to the franchise is what will eventually take center stage, even if Simmons’ side of the dispute appears to be fighting an uphill battle in their quest to recoup their lost money.
Since the conclusion of last season, and in the run-up to this season, Simmons and his reps repeatedly offered fleeting explanations for his desire to be traded elsewhere, and eventually those explanations changed to why he simply wouldn’t/couldn’t do his job. . These ranged from perceived anger at being included in negotiations for James Harden, frustration over Embiid and Doc Rivers’ comments after Game 7, past issues, and mental health explanations that eventually led to a team meeting where Simmons revealed to his teammates at the end of October he was “mentally unprepared for the game”.
The legality of this mental health claim has not been, and never has been, challenged by the Sixers, although the two sides have even found a way to quarrel over it. In mid-November, Shams Charania of The Athletic posted a quote from agent Rich Paul suggesting that Philadelphia’s fined Simmons caused further damage to his client:
“I sincerely believe that the fines, the harassment, the negative publicity were highlighting the issue – it is completely unnecessary and exacerbated Ben’s mental health issues,” said Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul. Either you help Ben, or you go out and say he’s lying. Which one?” [The Athletic]
These fines were imposed as a result of very fundamental disagreements between the two parties. Simmons did not want to meet with the doctors provided to the team to address the issue, and while reports said he saw someone through the NBPA, the Sixers never received documentation that would give them an explanation for his absence or a treatment plan. to take him to the hospital. the position will be available at some point this season. League sources who spoke to PhillyVoice in the fall described the process as if a player went to an outside specialist for a broken bone or torn ligament, the team should be aware of what the injury is and how it should help. deal with.
A mental health statement will become a central component of a complaint for many reasons. Immediately after being traded to Brooklyn, Simmons was seen doing a range of things that he and his agency claimed he couldn’t do with the Sixers, including training with teammates, sitting on the bench with teammates or traveled with the team to any capacity.
Although many on the outside dismissed the idea of Simmons being part of the Sixers again—the skepticism was appropriate—the organization made repeated attempts to get Simmons back into the Sixers. Teammates arranged a potential trip to California to visit Simmons before Simmons shut it down. On the night of Philadelphia’s first home game against Brooklyn, Joel Embiid asked fans in South Philadelphia to support “our brother” Simmons, hours after the aforementioned meeting with the team about his inability to play:
These attempts to recruit Simmons ultimately did not lead to significant changes in his approach. Now that the deal has been completed and Simmons has received what he told the team he wanted back in August, this indicates they want the money he lost despite refusing to cooperate with the ground rules and arrangements. set out in the Central Bank.
Based on conversations with league sources and a few people familiar with the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, the Sixers are in a much stronger position here. This seemed to be true throughout the process, including when a Simmons rep approached the players’ association in early October about their ability to recover money from this standoff, though it will ultimately depend on an independent arbiter if and when the process moves forward. forward.
Either way, Philadelphia’s handling of Simmons will once again be under the microscope, if it ever escaped scrutiny at all. It wouldn’t fit the last eight months of the drama if the first meeting between Simmons and his former team was actually about a basketball game played on the Thursday night floor.
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