Christian Petracca enjoyed VIP treatment during trip to watch NBA star Ben Simmons
THREE Melbourne players were excited to get up close and personal with rising Aussie NBA Ben Simmons. But Christian Petracca was the real MVP on the night.
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WE knew it happened and now Demons big man Max Gawn has spilt the dirt on what really went down when three of his teammates met Aussie NBA star Ben Simmons.
Melbourne’s Christian Petracca, who played junior basketball with Simmons as a junior, and fellow Demons Dom Tyson and James Harmes were on an end-of-season trip of a lifetime in October when they watched the NBA clash between the Philadelphia 76ers and Dallas Mavericks.
Word filtered out the trio had met up with Simmons and even enjoyed a chance meeting with Cleveland Cavaliers megastar LeBron James.
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Gawn says the story was even better than that as Petracca enjoyed living the high life while his teammates were forced to tag along.
“Christian promised Dom and James, he said ‘I know Ben Simmons, we’ll get courtside tickets, we’ll hang out with the boys’ so they all got pretty excited,” Gawn recounted.
“So they all got to the game and there were (courtside) tickets for Christian, and the other two were in the nosebleed section. Apparently they couldn’t get any further back!”
Speaking on SEN, Gawn said his teammates continued their party after the game, socialising with some of the NBA’s biggest names.
“And then after the game Ben Simmons came up to them and said ‘we’re going to go to New York to go out’.
“Christian got in the limousine with them. James and Dom were in an Uber behind them.
“The Uber cost $150 and unfortunately they got there about 10 or 20 minutes after the boys and they had to wait in line out the front before they got let in!
“So they didn’t exactly get the high-rolling life that Christian did.”
Petracca enjoyed meeting with the man simply known as LeBron at the exclusive nightspot.
“Apparently Christian was in a booth that some of the Philadelphia boys weren’t even allowed in,” Gawn said.
The off-season jaunt hasn’t hindered Petracca’s progress this summer, the former No.1 draft pick being an eye-catcher on the training track as he eyes more midfield time.
And Gawn reckons Melboiurne fans can expect the maturing Petracca to produce big things in 2018.
“This pre-season he’s wiped about 35 seconds off his PBs already, so 35 seconds in the 2km world is actually a lot of time,” he said.
“He’s running really well obviously, he’s kicking the ball really well and he’s trained almost every session.
“Those things usually mean you go out and have a good year ... it doesn’t always mean that but I’m backing him in to have a pretty good season.”
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