Shaquille O’Neal didn’t shy away from responding back to Ben Simmons after he had talked about him in a podcast a few days ago.
Ben Simmons had a very dramatic campaign in the previous year. He was traded to the Brooklyn Nets from the Philadelphia 76ers as part of the James Harden deal, after a summer full of tension in Philadelphia. Because of a back injury, he sustained after moving to Brooklyn, Simmons has not yet participated in a game for the team.
Because of it, Ben Simmons was subjected to a significant amount of criticism from the media all over the course of the year. When he appeared on a podcast with JJ Reddick, he expressed his feelings on the events of the previous year, which left him looking extremely perturbed.
He also discussed Shaq, who was critical of him despite the fact that the two of them went to the same college and played basketball there. He and Shaq both attended LSU. In spite of the fact that Shaq referred to Simmons as an LSU brother, Simmons was irritated by whatever it was that Shaq said about him.
Talking about Shaq, Simmons said, “I’m like Shaq, I was like like why are you saying this if you don’t even know the story because he always wants to say like Yo! we’re LSU Brothers you’re my brother all this that if you’re my LSU brother, you would have reached out by now and it’s been months since I’ve been doing this you ain’t reach out once and say Hey, you okay?“
Shaq replied to Simmons and said, “First of all, these young players need to understand, Shaquille O’Neal don’t need to hate on you. Everything you do, I’ve done it a hundred times over. … It’s just what we see. The mental health thing ain’t come out till everybody started bashing you then you let people know you have mental health problems.“
Shaquille O’Neal claimed he backed off when Ben Simmons told him that he was dealing with some issues
Shaq claimed that Ben Simmons told him that he was dealing with some issues, and as a result, he backed off from criticizing the Nets star. However, Shaq made it clear that players face these type of situations, and it was nothing new in NBA.
Shaq said, “If you go back, I told the world he DM’d me. He told me he was going through some problems, and I said I was gonna back off. And that’s exactly what I did.”
He added, “As far as what I saw, I speak on what I saw, and I speak on what I know. And yes, you can be my brother, but I ain’t gonna always gonna sugarcoat things. Imma tell you the real. … I want you to get to the level, to the level, to the level, but you can’t say I’m hating cause all the stuff you doing. You doing it cause you saw me do it.”
Ben Simmons is currently prepared to compete and is looking forward to the beginning of the new season. He has his mind made up and is determined to disprove the assumptions of those who have consistently cast doubt on him over the course of the past year. We can only hope that he will be healthy enough to participate in this year’s all-star game.
This upcoming season, the guys that will be leading the way for the Nets are going to be Ben Simmons, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving. It is generally agreed that the team that the Nets have assembled is the finest in the league, and it is anticipated that all of their superstars will be back for the following season. As a direct consequence of this, the Nets are in an excellent position to win the title.
Read More:
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