Former No. 1 overall pick and NBA Rookie of the Year Ben Simmons has let his career start trending in the downward direction. After some harsh criticsm for an awful playoff performance in the 2020-’21 season, Simmons decided to cut everyone off in the Philadelphia Sixers’ organization.
Most of this criticism came from the fans of Philadelphia, not even the members of the organization themselves. Now, you may be thinking “wow, that was really immature of him”, and if you are, you’re absolutely correct.
Ben Simmons failed to report to training camp last year after not speaking with the team for th entire offseason. It wasn’t until fines came into play that he finally came to practice. This occurred after he requested a trade from Philadelphia.
Simmons would then proceed to sit out of the Sixers games due to “mental health issues.” While nobody other than Simmons and his team can truly know whether that was true, it was fishy nonetheless. This was the only way to keep him from being fined, at least for the time being. He would eventually start getting fined, totalling at around $20 million. In the coming months, Simmons would be put into many mock trades with teams such as the Sacramento Kings and the Toronto Raptors being mentioned.
In February of 2021, Simmons would finally be traded to the Brooklyn Nets as part of a package for James Harden in a blockbuster deal. The full deal consisted of Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and multiple first-round picks for James Harden and Paul Milsap.
At that time, Simmons was in the midst of filing a grievance against the 76ers to recoup some of his lost salary. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the two sides have apparently come to terms on an unknown financial agreement to settle said greivance.
Brooklyn Nets All-Star guard Ben Simmons and his former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, reached a settlement agreement on the grievance Simmons filed to recoup a portion of the nearly $20 million withheld from him as a result of his failure to play games in the 2021-2022 season, sources told ESPN on Monday.
Both sides agreed to confidentiality on the exact financial settlement reached, sources said.
Report on Ben Simmons, 76ers agreement
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What financial agreement means for Ben Simmons
After everything Simmons did to the Sixers organization last season, he was let off with nothing but a slap on the wrist. This sparked an outrange amongst Sixers fans after the news was released. For someone making $35 million a year, the $20 million fine was somewhat impactful. Giving Simmons any of that money back makes him take no accountability for his actions, giving Sixers fans every right to be upset.
While the amount of money that he was given has been withheld from the public, any amount is too much. This sends the wrong message to every NBA star unhappy in their situation. It’ll be interesting to see how Simmons’ teammate, Kevin Durant, goes about leaving Brooklyn. The future of the NBA could be very painful in the coming years if more players follow in Simmons’ footsteps.
The future of the season was looking “bright” for Ben Simmons. That was until a lower back injury kept him out to begin his time with Brooklyn. Eventually, Simmons would has surgery on his lower back, pushing his return date even further back.
After months of waiting for Simmons to make his Nets debut, the day never came. He yet again let his team down, particularly in the playoffs. In the Nets four playoff games, he was still talked about as being potentially available. After missing all four games, the Nets would be swept by the Boston Celtics.
We’re intrigued to see how this situation with the Nets plays out moving forward. For now, it seems that everything is settled with Ben Simmons’ former 76ers squad.