The Shaquille O’Neal and Ben Simmons beef keeps going after the two former LSU players engaged in a verbal battle in recent weeks. It all started when Shaq criticized Simmons’ decision to not play for the Philadelphia 76ers last season and then named a back injury as the reason he didn’t suit up for the Brooklyn Nets.
Simmons was quiet until he sat down with JJ Redick on his ‘The Old Man and the Three’ podcast, where he opened up about life the last year and how he dealt with criticism from people around the league. Simmons was very vocal when he talked about Shaq, calling him out for not reaching out while he struggled with mental health issues.
“I DM’d him and I was like, ‘why are you saying this if you don’t even know the story?’ ‘Cause he always wants to say like yo, we’re LSU brothers, you’re my brother, all this, that. If you’re my LSU brother you would’ve reached out by now and it’s been months since I’ve been dealing with this. You ain’t reached out once and said like, ‘hey, you OK? Like, what’s going on?’”
Simmons was under fire during that time, and Shaq was one of his biggest critics. He didn’t like any of that and let O’Neal know as soon as he had the chance.
Shaquille O’Neal Promises He Won’t Talk About Ben Simmons Anymore
Shaq fired back, telling Simmons that he said he would back up after learning about his mental health struggles but also telling the point guard that he should have opened up about it so people have a better chance to learn about his journey.
“…The mental health thing ain’t came out until everybody started bashing you, then you let people know you have mental health problems and if you go back, I told the world he DM’d me, he told me he’s going through some problems, and I said I was going to back off. And then I told him in the DM, ‘ok, the reason why people don’t know what’s going on is because you ain’t talking. As far of what I saw, as far of what I know, I know how to get to the next level. He knows that. And yes, you can be my brother but I ain’t gonna always sugarcoat things, I’m gonna tell you the real…”
Moreover, Shaq doubled down on these comments, claiming that he’s done addressing Simmons and won’t talk about him anymore since he’s ‘sensitive’ about criticism on the most recent episode of his The Big Podcast.
“He did the same thing in high school, he did the same thing at LSU. Excuse my French, I don’t wanna hear that s**t. I want to see you get to the finals. ‘I thought an Atlanta defender was behind me!’
“It doesn’t matter, he’s 6’9 most of guys in Atlanta are 6’7 and below. They only got one guy. He’s sensitive, I won’t say his name at all this year, how about that?”
There’s no love between the so-called ‘LSU brothers’ after these comments. Simmons is tired of being criticized and Shaq is tired of Ben whining about it. So, now the Australian has to prove he can get the job done in Brooklyn; perhaps then Shaq will acknowledge him and even say nice things.
