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Ben Simmons Should Retire

ben simmons

The Brooklyn Nets are about to get swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics and all eyes are on Ben Simmons making some triumphant return in a Game 4 of an elimination game having not played professional basketball since last April when he broke the record for the WORST free throw shooting in NBA postseason history.

Nevermind.

Ben Simmons won’t be playing this season because his back still hurts. Surely, the national media will understand his plight and won’t overreact to this non-story.

Wow.

There seems to be this universal narrative that Ben Simmons is a pussy because he refuses to play basketball this season as if he is terrified of the Boston Celtics or terrified of embarrassing himself on national television because he’s going to dribble off his foot or brick a shot or whatever.

It’s so odd to watch everyone shit on Simmons last season when he shrunk against the Atlanta Hawks and looked as if he was a Make-a-Wish kid who had no business being on the court at times during that series—now talk about Simmons as if he is one of the best players in the NBA capable of single-handedly saving the Brooklyn Nets and dragging them to the Finals.

You cannot have it both ways. You don’t get to diminish this kid’s talent for years because he won’t take a perimeter jumper he knows he won’t make and then demand he comes back early from an injury because he is a crucial piece of the Nets title hopes.

Let’s all take a step back and have a real conversation about Ben Simmons. Last season, Simmons had the worst two-week stretch of basketball in his career. His teammate and head coach immediately threw him under the bus so he demanded a trade and a fresh start.

Every season a new superstar player demands a trade and they don’t receive a fraction of the shit-talking Simmons has been hit with. Simmons has said he’s suffered from mental health issues which made people tiptoe around what they really thought about him but you can see everyone’s mask is off. Stephen A. Smith and Shaq could not wait to call Simmons a little bitch.

What if—and bear with me here—but what if Ben Simmons has a sore back and doesn’t think it behooves him long term to be thrown into the middle (or end) of a high-pressure playoff series with a team he’s literally played with before and has absolutely zero loyalty to just so that he can like, ‘prove the haters wrong’ or some imaginary thing.

We just watched James Harden look around that Brooklyn Nets facility and demand a trade after seeing Kyrie Irving saging the locker room and Blake Griffin working on his Laugh Factory set while Steve Nash played Fifa in the film room. Why do we believe Ben Simmons is somehow in a situation where he will thrive?

And the worst part of all the Simmons hate is we all know what would happen if he returned for Game 5. He would struggle because, uh, he hasn’t played in a whole ass year and the Celtics have one of the best defenses in the NBA. Stephen A. Smith and Shaq would find some other reason to mock him.

Ben Simmons should retire. He’s made millions. He’s won accolades. If his mental health is truly deteriorating then he should just leave the game. He will never make these people happy. The goalposts will always shift.

Just retire, man. Kyrie is going to wet cough into your open nose and give you super Covid because he thinks medicine is bad. Kevin Durant is quickly aging into Jeff Green. There’s nothing for you. Go live in a beach house somewhere. Fuck Stephen A. Smith.

Written by thelesterlee

Creator of Deadseriousness. Diehard Knicks, Yankees and Giants fan who wants to create a sports and pop culture space that isn't the same copy and pasted AI content you see everywhere else.

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