Howard 'The King' Eskin Reporting that Ben Simmons "May be Tapped Out, Broke"
Let’s get it back to blowhard egomaniacal radio guys.
Howard “The King” Eskin is reporting that Ben Simmons may be running out of money. Here’s the relevant passage from the 94 WIP writeup:
“I was told by somebody very reliable he may be tapped out, broke,” Eskin said on Tuesday’s 94WIP Evening Show with Joe Giglio. “Cash flow broke. Because he’s losing so much money, but he spent so much money. 17.5 million dollar home, remember he has to pay taxes too. 17.5 million dollar home. He’s got two homes in the Philadelphia area, probably worth eight or nine million. He buys a new car every month, four or five hundred thousand. He just spends money like it’s nothing because he thinks it never ends. And the person that told (sic), it’s very reliable that he has got serious cash flow issues.”
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“Remember this trip, he doesn’t get paid for any games, so that’s well over two million,” Eskin continued. “He may have to come back. I don’t want him to come back, stay broke…I thought he was going to be out the whole year, now he may have to come back just to get some money.”
Well, to be clear, he already did “come back just to get some money.” That was the whole point of him showing up without warning, then participating in practice with cell phone-in-pocket and doing the bare minimum in order to get the money flowing again. The fines only returned when the Sixers deemed that he was being difficult and wouldn’t work with their mental health professional.
Howard first uses the word “broke,” which is a bit of a misnomer here. The usage of the term “serious cash flow issues” is likely more accurate, since Simmons has already earned millions of dollars playing in the NBA, more than $50,000,000 over his first five seasons. His bank account may not look too good right now, but he’s got millions tied up in various assets, like houses and cars, as Howard notes. So if Ben liquidated, he’d be perfectly fine, and that’s what he’s doing anyway, with the Philly condo and Moorestown house on the market.
Howard is washed, but he did have great sources more than a decade ago and used to break a lot of stories. I’d never it put it past the “The King” to pull a decent scoop out of nowhere, but it hasn’t happened recently. Plus, he’s hated Ben Simmons from day one and was never fair to the guy, not once, so anything he reports about Ben has to be received with dubiousness at face value. He even says in that quote that he wants him to “stay broke,” so that’s all you gotta know. What a dope!