Remember the ‘Free Jack Eichel’ situation?
Well, hopefully we get the same for Ben Simmons. The situation between the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and their 2016 first-overall selection has become rotten.
Simmons doesn’t want to play for the team. The Sixers don’t want him to play for them. His teammates are over the questions and the latest is the team has fined him for not travelling with them.
Simmons has told the team he’s not mentally read to play. The Sixers fined him anyway.
The team wants him to go to its own doctors, while Simmons is refusing.
Sound familiar? While this isn’t a neck injury and a mental health problem, the scenario is eerily familiar to that of Eichel, who didn’t want to take the advice of the Buffalo Sabres’ doctors.
Simmons makes $35 million a season. So, is he owned? Should he just shut up and play?
The power dynamic is shifting and teams are having a hard time giving up any power with the relationship with the player. But when a relationship gets as strained as Eichel in the NHL and Simmons in the NBA, it’s time to part company, as quickly as possible.