Doc Rivers once said that Ben Simmons was “still not obviously game shape because you can do all the stuff, but overall, yeah … when he’s ready, he’ll play.” Well, if today is any indication he won’t be playing anytime soon. It has been reported that the Sixers renegade player was thrown out of team practice by the coach.
It should not come as a surprise, images surfaced in the recent days of a team huddle where Ben Simmons simply walked off the training session not participating with his teammates, in a sign that Simmons does not want to be in Philadelphia.
Simmons recently called out his teammate Joel Embiid, and the off court drama has tarnished a player who looked to be one of the best players on the team. Now Doc Rivers has had enough and threw Simmons out of practice and the team suspended him, find out what the 76ers coach had to say about this uncomfortable situation.
Doc Rivers throws Ben Simmons out of Sixers practice
Doc Rivers did not hold back and told the media he was not taking it from Simmons, “I thought he was a distraction today… I didn’t think he wanted to do what everyone else was doing.” the New York Post reported. “I’m going to give Ben every chance to be part of the team … as a coach I have to protect the team first,” Rivers added.
Following being thrown out of practice Simmons was suspended for the first game of the season, which already looked unlikely that Simmons would play given his attitude in training. The Sixers released a statement saying Simmons’ “conduct was detrimental to the team”.
How this saga will end at this point is in a trade considering what happened with James Harden last season. Given Simmons attitude with the organization and teammates during the off season.