Ben Simmons and the Sixers have reached a settlement agreement on the grievance the All-Star guard filed to recoup a portion of the nearly $20MM withheld him as a result of his failure to play last season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
The Sixers maintained Simmons breached his contract upon failing to show up for the start of training camp and refusing to play in preseason and regular season prior to trade deadline swap with the Nets. Simmons cited mental health reasons for his limited participation in team activities. He also was diagnosed with a back injury that prevented him from playing with Brooklyn last season.
Both sides agreed to a confidentiality agreement on the exact financial settlement, Wojnarowski adds.
The Players Association backed Simmons in the grievance, which was shared with the Sixers, the league, and the NBPA in early April. The issue was to be arbitrated, which could have set a precedent on how future matters regarding mental health and contracts might be handled. Instead, the two sides reached an agreement before an arbiter could hand down a decision.
Simmons had a cap hit of just over $33MM last season.
During the season, Sixers officials claimed that team doctors were given limited access to Simmons to diagnose and confirm his mental health issues.
After Simmons was traded, his representatives had several conversations with the 76ers but those talks ended without a resolution.
Beginning last November 15, the Sixers withheld approximately $360K for each game Simmons missed (1/91.6th of his overall salary). Simmons received a $16.5MM advance on his salary during the offseason, thus there wasn’t enough money in each paycheck to cover the per-game deductions.
Along with the amount for escrow that was withheld by the NBA, the Sixers deducted nearly $1.3MM of Simmons’ salary from each pay check.
Ben Simmons got a W but don’t let that ruin your night guys lol
We literally have no idea how much money he recouped, so no idea how you can claim this is a ‘W’ for him.
Wouldn’t any amount of $$ recouped be considered a W from Ben’s perspective??
The guy refused to show up to work and is still going to get paid by his employer. That’s a W for him if he gets $5
Why do you continue to instigate hate. You’re the problem. Can’t keep quiet about this. You are the worst.
Lol who exactly am I hating on?..
You know what you’re doing and you know it’s wrong. You just enter in through the back door. You are the problem not whoever you’re pointing the fingers at.. whoever the “guys” are.
I’m ridiculing ppl like yourself that hate on guys like Ben Simmons. Lol obv you’re not gonna like being ridiculed lol you’re not supposed to. It’s pretty simple tho, chill on being such a hater & you won’t catch this type of ridicule
I know it’s not me but I’m sticking out for the entire crap you pull. I love Ben Simmons, couldn’t care less what you say about him, it’s the side door instigations you pull every couple weeks. Your crap is horrible.
Oh please. We all know you only have an affinity for Simmons because his cowardice made the Hawks look like actual contenders
He knows what he’s doing. Unfortunately he’s a product of the BS he promotes.
Like we can’t hate on a guy for stealing money.
You guys?
I think he’s overrated but I’ve backed Simmons from day one as far as getting paid. I truly do hope it’s a W for Ben and he got close to what they fined him.
He was holding out because he is a cry baby, not because he has mental issues to deal with. He shouldn’t get a dime
Well not only did he get that dime, he also got additional millions. Let that marinate
Not true
I can tell you he was the one to push for the confidential agreement to save himself the public embarrassment.
Sankara acts like he was part of this process. Such a weirdo.
Quite possibly the only “W” that dude ever gets. Good on you Ben; ever reminding us you that being a self centered, delusional adolescent still gets you paid
Hope Ben took PHI to the cleaners and got everything they owed him… what a bunch of junkyard dogs trying to dodge paying a contract, SMH!
Amen.
No mention of the other “junkyard dog” not ponying up to his end of the contract? He was such a victim!
If you didn’t show up to work, are you expecting to get paid? Beat it
What a sham. If anyone is owed anything here it’s mental health charities to compensate people whose real health issues Ben mocked.
Stretch Armstrong over here
We don’t know that Darkside. We don’t know what was going on. Arbitrators got involved and now it’s settled.
Yup. Gun to my head? Sure, I’d lean scam/ overexaggerated mental health issues.
No gun to my head? We don’t know exactly what happened other than that neither party, in particular Simmons, behaved well throughout this situation. But it’s settled now and everyone should move on.
But it was a back injury that kept him out for Brooklyn.
He’s probably the real reason everyone wants out of Brooklyn the guys a bum y would anyone want to play with him
I’ve maintained all along that I think Ben Simmons asked for a trade a year before the meltdown. It was behind closed doors of course but he wanted out. Probably had to do with the roster or Embiid or something. They changed the coach but that wasn’t enough so Simmons held out. He said, enough.
You can’t blame him as a player. He’s an All-Star, he’s a 6-11 Draymond Green. I’d take him on my team in a heartbeat.
Nah, not green. He’s a 6’11” Tony Wroten. He’s a great 1 on 1 perimeter defender but hasn’t shown he can be the centerpiece and director of a team’s defense like Green.
Yeah I guess there’s only one Draymond Green but Ben Simmons sure is a tremendous nuisance at 6-11 on defense. He can guard the ball handlers and the big men.
Facts
If Ben already Banked 16.5 mill. Why would he deserve any more. Plain arithmetic to me.
Let’s be Real here.
Sixers did this to themselves. They knew after Hawks beat them. And exposed Ben. That his career was over in Philly. They could of got a nice haul at the draft. But Moreyon and his Harden won out.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens now in Bklyn. With KD abandoning the boat and Ben. Will Ben wilt in the pressure of leading Bklyn back to respectability. Things can still get worse for Ben. Or he can man up ……
Did Jamal Murray get all of his bag last year? Yes he did. Only difference is Murray had a physical injury and Simmons has/had a mental illness . They both had Medical problems that made it so they couldn’t play.
You think they are the same OK.
First if you believe Ben. Then that just speaks of you. Only mental issue Ben got. Is he lost his nerve and his swagger. And Philly ran him out of town. Dude it could happen again. Bklyn ain’t Disneyland lol.
I think Ben is going to show up and show off in Brooklyn.Doc Rivers is the most overrated coach ever. He won off KG and caused some losses. He sucks. Did I say Doc sucks!
Knick-All you think Ben can coexist with a starting five of Nrunson, Barrett, Grimes and Mitch? Will his skilkset impact that (5) better, or should Grimes be swapped out for Obi?
Dude is the rationale for non-guaranteed contracts in the NBA.
Ouch PhillyB lol
So he didn’t show up for work, still wanted to get paid and eventually got paid. Wish I could do that
Although it pissed me off that he didnt play with Nets with back injury and how he ruined Nets hope in postseason, still blame Sixers and Rivers for he whole Simmons fiasco. They wronged him for sure…. Hope Simmons regains his all star status and credibilty in nba.