Ben Simmons made a strategic move by telling the Sixers he suffered from mental health issues and wasn’t mentally ready to play. As soon as the words mental health was uttered, the Sixers stopped fining him, and he had an excuse to not practice fully with the team or play in games.
The problem is Simmons never did anything to address the alleged mental health issues he had, even though the Sixers went out of their way to supply him with whatever he needed to get mentally prepared to play.
For that reason, the Sixers believe Simmons was faking a mental health issue just to continue his quest to force a trade but still get paid while doing it.
It has finally come to a head, and the Sixers have decided to start fining him again via ESPN.
The Philadelphia 76ers fined All-Star guard Ben Simmons his $360,000 game salary for missing Thursday night’s victory over the Detroit Pistons and plan to continue fining him until he cooperates with team physicians on his mental health issues and fulfills other basketball-related obligations, sources told ESPN on Friday.
The Sixers will again place Simmons’ future salary into an escrow account, sources said. Earlier this season, the Sixers released Simmons’ money from escrow after he had been initially cooperative on a path toward returning to play.
Sixers officials believe they have been supportive of Simmons’ stated need for mental health assistance and are left no choice, but for these actions in response to the three-time All-Star’s refusal to provide basic details of his course of mental health meetings, evaluation or treatments or to accept consultation with any specialists arranged by the team, sources said.
Simmons going forward, won’t be receiving any game checks, and if he refuses to participate in team practices, he will be fined hefty amounts.
This situation doesn’t seem like it will be resolved any time soon.
Flip the pages to see Simmons working on his mental health with his new girlfriend, Maya Jama.