Sixers

Sixers Reportedly No Longer Fining Ben Simmons

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 26th, 2021 · 8:43 AM EDT

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Marc Stein confirming Ramon Shelburne here:

The Sixers have stopped fining Ben Simmons for missed games and practices given that he is now out for personal reasons, one source close to the situation says, confirming a report this afternoon from @ramonashelburne on the NBA Today.

More from me: https://t.co/A6ycVmnrjq

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 25, 2021

This was the original report that aired on ESPN on Monday afternoon, with Shelburne saying that mental health issues are being taken in “good faith” by the Sixers:

https://twitter.com/Ossie_Schectman/status/1452723977386930189?s=20

So you get to a weird situation here with fans and media, where we know a significant portion of people are going to call bullshit on this. They’re going to point out that the mental health topic didn’t come up until Ben had held out for two weeks and put his condo and his house up for sale. They’ll allege that he only went the “mental health” route to stop the fines, after he had already been docked north of $1.5 million for missing the first few weeks of the season.

Whether that’s legit or not, only Ben Simmons knows. You get into murky territory when it comes to mental health, though I think we would all probably agree that Ben went through some really rough moments last year after his sister came out and accused their half-brother of molestation when she was a child. Ben was never asked about that directly, because the media decided it was a personal, non-basketball situation and thought it would be more respectful to leave that as a private matter.

Doc Rivers was asked about it after the season and gave a thoughtful answer, saying this:

Dan Gelston, AP: I’m not saying the two issues were related, but Ben this year had a very public and I’m sure unfortunate situation play out with his family behind the scenes. Did you find that it affected him personally, and at all, ever, on the court?

Rivers: You know, I can’t answer that because I don’t know. But listen, it’s another example of – and I’m trying to say this right – where players are real people. They have real lives. They have real stuff going on. I have never had to deal with the public stuff that Ben had to deal with with my family. But I would say if I had to, it would have affected me in some way or another. I can’t tell you if it affected him on the floor or not, I don’t know that. I just know it would have affected me, in some way. I don’t know how. But it’s not just Ben; all players have (things going on behind the scenes). It’s just all part of it, too, for young players especially, to understand that you have this and you have this and you still have to (come to work and perform), even though you have the other stuff. It’s amazing watching guys go through stuff like that, and some are able to put it into compartments and some are not. As a coach, your job is to teach the ones who don’t do it well, to do it well. I’m sure you’ve had many days where you come to work, and in your home life it may not be a great day. That’s part of it. But you still have to try to figure out how to do your job the best you can. With athletes it’s public, and that’s a lot harder. It’s so much harder for guys now, than when I played. Thank God we didn’t have Instagram or Twitter or any of that stuff.

Gelston: Was it something that you or anybody in the organization talked to him about?

Rivers: Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

It was probably really hard dealing with that last year, and I’m sure all of this stuff weighs on Ben mentally even to this day. It’s difficult to balance a pro basketball career with personal family matters that are blasted out into the public sphere.

But on the question of whether he’s using “mental health” as leverage in a holdout situation, only he can answer that.

Edit –

Probably worth noting that if the Sixers want Ben to play for them again, this is a move that makes sense on their behalf. Continuing to fine him would probably result in Simmons and Klutch doubling down on their trade request.