Back on March 8th, Kyle Neubeck at Philly Voice reported that Ben Simmons and his camp were planning to file a grievance against the Sixers, and it looks like that’s now happening:

Woj goes on to say this:

“The grievance – which will now go to an arbitration process – was shared with the team, NBA and National Basketball Players Association late this week, sources tell ESPN. The NBPA is supporting Simmons in the attempt to reclaim his salary.”

Any arbitrator with half a brain will throw this out in two seconds.

As a reminder, Ben Simmons was under contract and decided not to show up for media day and training camp. The Sixers justifiably began to withhold his money, Ben came back, half-assed his way through practice with his phone in his pocket, then got kicked out of practice. Only after that did we hear about mental health issues, and the trade finally happened at the deadline.

Simmons has not played basketball this year. With the Nets, he’s been sidelined due to a back injury and may not even get on the floor in the playoffs. If he wins this grievance, it will set a terrible precedent in the NBA, and suggest that players can simply refuse to play and force their way out if they don’t like their current situation.

Ben is a humongous loser.

EDIT – check out this from the ESPN Woj story:

“Minus the amount for escrow that was withheld by the NBA, the 76ers had been withholding nearly $1.3 million of Simmons’ salary in each of his paycheck. That’s continued since the trade to the Nets, who are made to deduct salary from Simmons’ pay to wire to the 76ers, sources said. Because Simmons last paycheck is on April 30, the deductions should carry over to the offseason. Once again. Simmons will receive a $8.25 million advance on July 1 and October 1.”