“Ben Simmons Needs a Sports Psychologist”: Months After Shaquille O’Neal’s $300,000 Remark, Charles Barkley Explains Nets Star’s Ordeal

Coming off a knee injury, Ben Simmons was available for the road game against the Sacramento Kings. In what has been a rough ride so far for the former ROTY, whose hesitance to shoot the ball continues to be on public display, failing to provide on defense too, which is considered his strong suit.

In the 9-games played so far, Simmons has averaged 5.2 PPG, 5.9 APG, and 6.2 RPG. The former Sixers guard is shooting a horrid 46.7% from the free-throw line, with 0-attempts from the 3-point line. The 2020 steals leader has committed 37 personal fouls so far this season.

With the scars of the past continuing to haunt him, TNT analyst Charles Barkley suggested Simmons hire a sports psychologist to help him deal with his mental struggles, stating the 6ft 10″ guard is mentally blocked right now, adding how bringing him off the bench wasn’t the best idea.

“I think personally, I think he, (Simmons) needs a sports psychologist, and I’m not talking about mental, he’s frozen on the court. He’s not even looking at the basket. I ain’t never been on a team where guys have to scream at a guy to shoot the basketball. I’ve seen Kyrie yell at him, I’ve seen the coach yell at him. He’s mentally, he’s blocked right now.”

Also read: “Ben Simmons is mentally prepared for engagement but not basketball?”: NBA Twitter implodes as Sixers star reportedly proposed to Maya Jama

Barkley’s statements come as a surprise, considering how critical he had been of Simmons’ mental health theory, lashing out at the Sixers guard publicly.

When Charles Barkley blasted Ben Simmons for using the mental health card.

Earlier this year, Barkley slammed Simmons for using mental health as an excuse to show his dissent towards the former team Sixers, stating how it was all good until he stopped getting paid.

“Mental health is a serious thing, he (Simmons) was using that as a scapegoat,” said Barkley.

“Ben Simmons never said anything about mental health until they (Sixers) stopped paying him. It’s just that he hated the Sixers. He didn’t want to be around Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid.”

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“First of all, anyone having mental health has my full support, but if Ben Simmons had have said that when everything first happened, I wouldn’t have had any problem with it. But what he did was a serious issue in our society. He started using that when he realized he was not going to get paid, and now all of a sudden he went and saw Dr.Phil for one of those hour shows, and he’s fixed now.”

Nevertheless, it seems like Simmons’ recent struggles with the Nets have led Barkley to believe that the former may probably be needing help.

Shaquille O’Neal’s diss on Ben Simmons’ mental health excuse in the past.

Though Shaq may been more empathetic towards the Nets guard off late, such wasn’t the case in the past. The Big Diesel felt the former Sixers guard lacked the competitive fire to go out and perform, taking a dig at the latter for posting pictures of his Ferrari and his actress friends while he missed games.

In an interview with Taylor Rooks, the former seven-foot center called out Simmons for his extravagant lifestyle.

“If you have anxiety shooting free throws, you having anxiety putting on green leather and 300K worth of chain? When people like here that work hard never seen a million dollars, And like do you have anxiety then? When you’re sitting on the bench, these are the questions I wanna ask the experts.

I can understand you have anxiety in a game but when you not playing and you’re sitting on the bench and you know 300K Gucci and the big chains and rings what, do you have anxiety then?”

Also read: “Shoot it Ben”: Simmons Passes Up the Ball as Kyrie Irving Begs Him to Shoot