It turns out that All-Star Ben Simmons might continue losing money despite rejoining the Philadelphia 76ers ahead of the start of the season. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the 76ers intend to resume fining Simmons, this time for lack of cooperation with the team.
Simmons still hasn’t played a game with the 76ers in 2021-22 and has been a limited participant in the team’s activities so far. The 25-year-old reportedly told the team that he “wasn’t mentally prepared to play” and sought professional help. However, he refused any assistance from Philly and has been unwilling to share details about the process with the organization.
The player’s unwillingness to cooperate with the franchise has now prompted the 76ers to place his future salary into escrow with the intention to deduct fines from it. The first one will be for missing the game against the Detroit Pistons on Thursday.
Wojnarowski reports that Philadelphia plans to continue fining Simmons for every game he misses until he becomes more open to working with the team’s medical staff.
Being fined isn’t new for Ben Simmons, considering this was the tactic the 76ers used when he decided not to report for training camp in an effort to force a trade. Simmons reportedly lost $2 million before returning to the team, at which point the fines stopped coming in.
While the 76ers would like to get Simmons back on the floor at some point, he doesn’t seem open to the idea and is still only focused on getting out of Philadelphia. But it may be a while before this happens, considering that Philly continues to ask significant return for him in trade talks with other teams.
