Joel Embiid joined a growing list of people questioning whether Bill Simmons should be included among the voters for NBA awards. Simmons has come under fire now from multiple people in NBA circles for his now-infamous “F*** Jalen Green” comment on his podcast where he was stating that he won’t vote for Green in his All-Rookie team. First, it was Ryan Hollins and Gilbert Arenas who spoke up on the “No Chill with Gilbert Arenas” show, and then Draymond Green brought it up on an Instagram story where he wrote:
How is it that this guy has a voice in deciding if Jalen Green will qualify for a super-max deal? He clearly says F Him, which sounds very personal, by the way. But he has a say in what someone earns? What work has he done in his life that qualifies him to have a say in an NBA player’s salary?
Embiid, too, of course, is certainly frustrated with the media for not voting him for MVP and it was now his turn to go at Simmons, as he echoed a lot of sentiments shared by Draymond.
"If you're going to allow these type of people to vote on these awards, that's not fair."
Joel Embiid discusses Bill Simmons' remark on Jalen Green and how it impacts NBA award voting. pic.twitter.com/ujYemdxYQs
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) May 11, 2022
“I go back to what I heard on a podcast. Bill Simmons basically saying, it sounded like he had a grudge against somebody, saying ‘F Jalen Green.’ If you’re going to allow these types of people to vote on these awards, that’s not fair.”
“What if Jalen Green was in a position to earn a supermax (contract), or I don’t know, an All-Star appearance? You’ve got someone sounding like that and has a lot of power. He can sway a lot of other media members and you’ve got someone saying that type of stuff. I don’t think it’s fair, I don’t think it’s okay.”
While Simmons was talking just about the All-Rookie team, which has no implications when it comes to supermax contracts, the point that is being emphasized by the players is that personal feelings should not come into play in this equation. It is a problem if media bias is playing a significant role, as that will affect the future earnings of players.
In defense of Simmons, he definitely didn’t look like he seriously meant it when he used that term, but it was a poor choice of words and we might see more players calling him out over this.
