NBA

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith says Ben Simmons is playing so poorly it’s as if he is ‘stealing money’ from the Nets

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Antonio Kozlow
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Antonio Kozlow Sports Editor

Antonio is a life long sports enthusiast and professional journalist, who shares an obssesive urge to find and dig up the most interesting facts to guide gamblers towards more exciting, yet safe bets. In his own words, ''you can never really know enough about the things you love''.

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Sports Editor

Updated23 Jan 2023

Nets' Ben Simmons: "I feel like I'm part of Philly still"

While the three-time All-Star player is trying his best to have a healthy first season with the Nets, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith destroyed Ben Simmons publicly in Friday’s episode of NBA Countdown. 

“Ben Simmons is a sad situation”, Smith said on air. “And I don’t mean it literally, because obviously he isn’t, but you could say he is stealing money”, as a reference to how the player is under-performing lately and is cashing in after he signed an extremely well-paid contract with Brooklyn.

With a deal that will grow to almost $40 million in 2024/25, Simmons is currently winning $35.4 million this season. But the truth is, he’s not performing as expected of him and it’s starting to stir up some debate over his professionalism, after only averaging 7.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game, after 34 in total this campaign.

After Smith’s remarks, Jalen Rose went on to affirm his co-host’s reflection. “Ben Simmons is stealing money. Ski mask and gloves”, he said, as you can see on the following Twitter post:

Simmons, used to controversy, has had a rollercoaster of a season so far playing for the Nets. Just about a month ago, he had a couple of MVP matches to his name, but quickly proved he’s suffering very unstable performances. Problem is, as Kevin Durant is still sidelined due to injury, they need Brooklyn’s No.10 to step up for the team, especially as Kyrie Irving can’t do it all by himself.

It was the same Irving who saved the Nets last time out, scoring an incredible 48 points against the Utah Jazz on Friday, January 20th, after Brooklyn had lost 4 straight games. Simmons on the other hand, only scored 6 points, demonstrating a very low influence on the court.

It gets worse. Just last week, he got ejected from court in his last game against the Phoenix Suns, further proving the point that the 26-year-old is acting out of himself, living one of his lowest moments of his career. Stephen A. Smith went to assure that ”Ben Simmons was ejected on purpose last night. He didn’t want to play.”

Watch the sequence of his ejection against the Suns and make up your own opinion on the matter:

He keeps appearing in the spotlight for the wrong reasons

Today he made the news headlines because of an off-the-court dispute involving his former fiance Maya Jama.

The couple called off their engagement back in August supposedly because they each wanted to concentrate on their careers, as Jama is a TV host. The Nets player has reportedly sent Jama a legal letter demanding that she return their engagement ring, which is said to be worth $1 million.

Jama then replied she never intended to keep the jewel, and was in shock to have received the demand letter.

“This was the first time that she has been asked by Ben to return it and, for the avoidance of any doubt, she has never refused to return it,” as it’s stated in the Daily Mail.

Hopefully the point guard can quit all these controversial distractions that follow him around and actually focus on his game to bring out his best version as a Brooklyn Nets player.