“Ben Simmons is mad at me because I’m his LSU brother”: Shaquille O’Neal reveals the Sixers’ guard slid into his DMs for calling him out last week on Inside the NBA

Shaquille O’Neal heavily criticized Ben Simmons for sitting out this season and the Sixers star sent him angry DMs in response. 

Ben Simmons mentally parted ways with the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason after the unexpected loss to Atlanta Hawks. The press conference that followed involved Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid blaming Ben Simmons for it.

The Sixers as well as the fans believe that the lack of offense from Ben led to the second-round exit. As a result, the 3x all-star cut off ties with the team last summer. He chose to remain sidelined stating mental health issues and is yet to play a game this season. He has been fined to the tune of $23 million so far and the front office is nowhere close to trading him.

With playoffs approaching, the Sixers need their team at full capacity for a real shot at the title. Shaq called Ben Simmons a baby for his adamant stand to not play this season. He criticized him at length last week on Inside the NBA and clearly, it got to Simmons.

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Shaq says Ben Simmons will regret this pettiness in future

On  ‘The Big Podcast‘ Shaquille O’Neal revealed that Ben Simmons sent him angry DMs following his public criticism. Shaq reiterated the point he was trying to make on the show last week and told the Sixers star to suck it up.

He believes that by sitting the season out and wasting money he is making it hard for other athletes to demand big contracts. In addition, the retired big man says being sensitive in this line of business is incorrect. Some tough words from the coach and teammates cannot justify this sort of behavior.

Shaq said, “The difference between [Joel Embiid] and his soft partner [Simmons] is [Embiid] can take criticism without being a crybaby, and he still wants to play.” 

Although he did not reveal the exact text Ben sent him, out of respect, he did say that the former ROTY was extremely mad at him. Especially since they’re LSU brothers. Shaq says Simmons will regret this few years down the line as he does.

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He recounted the beef he had with Kobe almost two decades ago about “whose team it is”. The 4x champion believes that the duo could’ve won 9-10 titles together if they hadn’t fought about something so silly. At the end of the day, money and titles matter, and nothing else should come in between.

Shaq strongly believes that Ben and Joel can bring Sixers a championship and the only thing in their way is Simmons’ immaturity.