If we are being honest, both of these statements can be true.
Mental health is not just a serious issue in the world but also in sports.
Ben Simmons could be faking a mental health issue because he is trying to force a trade, doesn’t want to play for Sixers, but still wants to get paid.
The thing about mental health issues is it is hard to diagnose how someone is feeling. It is easy to see if someone has a torn ACL, but there is no MRI for depression or anxiety. There are experts in those fields to try to help you navigate those types of issues, but it appears Simmons has no intentions of talking to anyone like that.
“There has been frustration mounting, according to people close to the situation, that Ben has not been accepting any of the help the team has offered him, in terms of helping him with his mental readiness,” ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne said on NBA Today Tuesday. “He has been working with mental health professionals through the Players’ Association, but thus far I’m told he hasn’t really kept the team in the loop on that.”
Simmons told the Sixers he wasn’t mentally ready to play, and the Sixers, to their credit, told him to take all the time he needed and offered the finest doctors in the state of Pennsylvania to work with him, but Simmons has refused.
It doesn’t look like he has sought out any treatment on his own, so it isn’t unfair to say that the only issue Simmons’ really has is that he doesn’t want to play for the Sixers.
I get the feeling if he was traded to the Warriors, his mental health would be significantly improved, and he would be back on on the court immediately.
When do the Sixers start calling his bluff again and begin to withhold his salary because he is now being paid to do nothing but make them look like fools.
Flip the pages for Ramona Shelbourne speaking on this issue and Ben with his new lady Maya Jama.