A minor basketball media kerfuffle after this JACK SETTLEMAN guy reported that Ben Simmons is being shut down for the rest of the season:

BREAKING: The Brooklyn Nets are planning on shutting down Ben Simmons for the remainder of the season, per sources.

Nets brass are disappointed with Simmons & looking into ways to offload his contract this summer pic.twitter.com/BGjA8uJRV7

— JACK SETTLEMAN (@jacksettleman) February 28, 2023

Jack Settleman? More like Jack, sell ’em for less. Heyo!

Anyway, Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn was asked about the report and more or less said it’s poppycock:

Jacque Vaughn says there have been no discussions about shutting Ben Simmons down: pic.twitter.com/qGGfy9CWYk

— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) March 1, 2023

Ben hasn’t played since February 15th. Basketball, that is. I’m sure he’s played Call of Duty and PUBG in that time frame. Simmo the Savage was averaging 4 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in 19 minutes per game during the month of February, so it was a lesser basketball version of the late Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan.

Pagan asked on Tuesday’s Crossing Broadcast if Simmons or Carson Wentz will leave professional sports first, and it’s a tough question. Wentz is older, and Ben can try to revive his career in a smaller market somewhere or go overseas, while Carson doesn’t have a lot of pathways to that resurrection (paper paper), as Bone Thugs N Harmony once said:

Jacque Vaughn Says No Discussion of Shutting Down Ben Simmons