The 2021-22 campaign was a nightmare for Ben Simmons and the 76ers. After having his trade request ignored, Simmons had to endure a brutal war with the team that came with some pretty bizarre moments.
One such moment was during a Sixers practice last year that Simmons was essentially forced to attend before he was kicked out by Doc for being a ‘distraction.’
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the 2008 NBA champion coach decided the player needed to leave practice since he couldn’t engage mentally or physically with the squad. Instead of Simmons, Rivers addressed the media and discussed this situation, explaining what prompted him to ask the point guard to leave. The veteran coach believed Ben was a distraction and asked him to remove himself from practice.
“I thought he was a distraction today. I told him, ‘you should leave Ben,'” Rivers told the Australian, as transcribed by John Clark of NBC.
It was a big story at the time, but we never got to hear Ben’s side of things… until now.
Ben Simmons Finally Revealed Why Doc Rivers Kicked Him Out of Practice
In a chat with JJ Redick on ‘The Old Man & The Three,’ Ben explained how it all went down that day and provided some clarity on how the team treated him throughout the whole process.
“Getting kicked out of that practice that day, I actually spoke to Doc before practice. I was like, ‘ Doc I’m not ready. Mentally I’m not ready, please just understand that.’ I tried to let him know in private but he’s like, ‘well I’m gonna put you in any way.’ He told me to get in, I looked at him. It was like one minute into practice, like, ‘Ben get in!’ I’m like, ‘no one’s doing that, you’re going this on purpose.’ And that’s how it felt. Like, everyone’s just trying to f**k with me now. I’m getting fined for not lifting weights but physically I’m like one of the strongest guys on the team. They’re fining me for little things. It was just a build-up of… obviously I didn’t handle things the right way, but also the team didn’t either.”
Ben Simmons reflects on his mental state when asked to leave practice with the 76ers
(via @OldManAndThree) https://t.co/n2bUEuIRmH
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 22, 2022
Obviously, sympathy for Ben is limited, given that he’s the one who started it all. Had Ben gone another direction that summer, things might have played out a little differently.
Instead, he chose to cut ties with the 76ers, and it led to the firestorm of chaos and drama that followed. Love him or hate him, it’s good that we are finally getting to hear Ben’s side of the story in all of this.
