Shaq disses Ben Simmons again, explains why he had to show up to work

Ben Simmons and Kyrie Irving have stolen most of the headlines during the offseason, but not for adding a new weapon to their basketball repertoire. Instead, their off-court stories have gotten plenty of attention around the NBA.

But with the start of the season just around the corner, it seems like we’ll finally have some closure. The Nets won’t allow Kyrie to play, travel, or practice; and Simmons shockingly reported to the Sixers’ facility.

Then again, that wasn’t much of a surprise for Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, who recently said that Simmons only showed up because he needed the money to maintain hisostentatious lifestyle.

Shaq Says Ben Simmons Needed The Money, Compares Him To Lonzo Ball

“Let’s just talk business first. You miss the season or whatever, that can cost you up to $8 million. You buy a house for $15 million, you’ve got $7 million left… So if he wants to keep his notes up on the $15 million house, you better take your a** to work,” Shaq said.

The 4-time NBA champion also dissed Simmons for not working on his flaws, comparing him to Lonzo Ball and talking about how he managed to fix his broken jumper with some hard work:

“[Ball’s] shooting is a testament to somebody working on their jumper. Lonzo Ball is shooting that thing and he looks good shooting that thing” the Big Diesel added.

Shaq Advised Simmons To Just Focus On Basketball

This isn’t the first time that Shaq discusses Simmons, his work ethic, and his priorities. Several weeks ago, he told him to stop posting pics of his cars and just focus on basketball if he wanted to be remembered.

(Transcript via Fadeaway World)

“In certain cities like Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Miami, Dallas, we know what hard work is. And we know what being fearless is. We can see when a person has a guy 6’1 on him and he drives under the basket to kick it out to another guy when you should have dunked it, that’s not what we want. We just want you to work on your game. He’s getting a lot of criticism, and it’s warranted. All the great players did… It’s part of the business.

One thing my father taught me, he said “OK, a lot of these people are talking about you, but is your criticism warranted?” In this case it is. He needs to say this, “Do I want to be a good player or a great player”. Look, you’re making $30 million, and you got all your Ferraris and your Lamborghinis. That’s a great life, but do you want to be remembered? Do you want to go down in history? Do you want the great Frank Isola to talk about you like you’re one of the greatest things since sliced bread? How do you want to be remembered? Once he can look in the mirror and answer that, his problems will go away.”

At the end of the day, Simmons will have to decide whether he wants to be a legend — which he has the potential to, or just an average player with a bunch load of money. He’ll be fine either way, tho.