Ben Simmons has been the subject of much ridicule on television and social media over the last year or so. It all started after that infamous playoff series against the Hawks, which was the last we saw of Simmons on an NBA court as he sat out for the first half of the 2021-22 season with the Sixers. He was then traded to the Nets but didn’t play a game for them either as he was dealing with a back injury.
There were reports at the time that Simmons might come back during the playoff series against the Celtics, but it didn’t happen in the end, and the Nets got swept. Ric Bucher then came out with a damning story last week that Simmons left the Nets group chat when his teammates asked him if he was available for Game 4. It was a wild story, but Shams Charania made it clear that it never happened, and Simmons also decided to come out and classify it as fake news as he responded on NBA Buzz’s Instagram post.
The fact that Bucher so confidently came out and said it on national television made you wonder if this actually could have happened, but it’s clear someone just made it up. It was good on Simmons’ part to come out and clear his name as it has been dragged through the mud enough at this point. It doesn’t look like there are any issues between him and Kevin Durant either, as Bucher seemed to indicate, with the two being spotted together in Los Angeles recently.
Ben is set to finally get back on the court when the 2022-23 campaign starts, and he can hopefully put all that has happened over the last year behind him to have a strong season with the Nets.
