This is what Ben Simmons should have done in the first place, and he could have saved himself a million dollars.
There is a reason that NBA players don’t hold out, it is the one way they can actually lose money, so it makes much more sense just to show up and mope as Simmons did at his first practice with the team.
James Harden did this to perfection last season with the Rockets. We have seen players like Anthony Davis, and Carmelo Anthony do it as well to get traded to the team of their choice.
Here is how it was described via Yahoo Sports.
Multiple videos surfaced from Monday’s team practice, Simmons’ second with the 76ers since he ended his holdout last week. Let’s just say he looks less than engaged.
Video from NBC Sports Philadelphia showed Simmons participating in drills with his teammates. He did so while wearing warmup pants and what appears to be a cellphone in his pocket.
A video from the end of practice is even more telling. WPVI shared video of a post-session team huddle. Players, coaches, and staff joined hands in the middle to break practice. That is, except for Simmons. The disgruntled 76ers point guard skipped the huddle and made a beeline off the court as soon as practice broke while his teammates mingled on the floor.
The cell phone in the pocket is a nice touch.
Maybe he was waiting to get some nudes from his new girlfriend Maya Jama or waiting on Rich Paul to call to explain how he plans to get him out of this mess.
I am curious to see what is going to happen when the season starts.
Is he going to tank on the floor, or will he play hard and help the team win. That will say a lot about the type of man he is when push comes to shove.
Flip the pages to see Simmons dogging it at practice and some of the Twitter reactions to it.