Ben Simmons‘ bizarre start to the season has continued after footage from Philadelphia appeared to show the Australian practicing with his phone in his pocket.
Simmons’ future with the team is one of the NBA’s hottest talking points ahead of the opening of the 2021-22 regular season, with the 25-year-old’s status for the 76ers’ season-opener against New Orleans still up in the air.
After surprising the Sixers by arriving to a pre-season match unannounced, Simmons has joined his teammates in Philadelphia’s practices this week.
However, when eagle-eyed fans finally got a glimpse of the three-time All-Star in action, they noticed something in the right pocket of his grey sweatpants.
https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine/status/1450198984581079051https://twitter.com/zachzachzach/status/1450204303822450692https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1450226860936286210https://twitter.com/jasonrmcintyre/status/1450215202624995329https://twitter.com/TyDunne/status/1450172773373026305
However, despite the social media storm created by the viral clip, former ESPN reporter Marc Stein later reported that it had actually been Simmons’ practice jersey that was in his pocket, and not his phone.
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Unfortunately for Simmons, that wasn’t the only clip from Tuesday’s training session that went viral.
Despite his arrival in Philadelphia and teammates’ public comments about their relationships with the Aussie, questions still remain about the damage his holdout has done to Philadelphia’s team chemistry.
In a separate clip shared by 6ABC reporter Jaime Apody, Simmons could be seen not participating in the team huddle at the end of the session.
https://twitter.com/JamieApody/status/1450153086320881670
Apody added that the Australian “immediately” left the court after the huddle while other players remained on the court shooting.
The Australian has not yet spoken to the media after returning to Philadelphia, but is expected to do so on Wednesday, per PhillyVoice’s Kyle Neubeck.
Philadelphia opens its 2021-22 campaign at New Orleans at 11am AEDT on Thursday, and Simmons is yet to be officially ruled in or out.
“Right now I’m just trying to get him back comfortable and integrated. I’m not even thinking about that,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said.
“That’ll come at some point, but there’s no gameplan there, I’ll tell you that. When he’s ready, he’ll play.”
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