According to a report, Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers unleashed an angry statement during Ben Simmons’ holdout over the offseason.
“For that, dating back to those Combine dialogues, Philadelphia was adamant in its plans to withhold Simmons’ pay for not complying with the terms of the five-year, $170-plus million agreement he signed in July 2019,” wrote Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report. “Later, at [Rich] Paul’s home, Rivers even shouted, ‘It’s in your f—— contract’ to report and play for Philadelphia, sources told B/R.”
Over the summer, it was reported that Rivers’ relationship with Simmons was essentially in shambles. It’s clear that they don’t see eye to eye on a number of things.
While there are no guarantees that Simmons is going to appear in any games for the Sixers in the upcoming season, it seems like the 25-year-old is in the process of returning to the team.
Given the state of Simmons’ relationship with Rivers, Joel Embiid and other key members of the organization, it’ll be extremely inserting to monitor how the former first-round pick interacts with folks around the team.
Simmons is coming off of a 2020-21 season in which he posted averages of 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game. He was named an All-Star, but his woes as a scorer didn’t do him any favors throughout the year.
