Philadelphia 76ers slammed for airing Ben Simmons’ ‘dirty laundry’

There’s been no shortage of Ben Simmons haters voicing their opinion but some people are still on the Aussie star’s side amid a bitter spat.

The Simmons saga keeps rolling on. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

If anyone wants to make basketball great Isiah Thomas an NBA general manager again, he’s got a move lined up: trading for Ben Simmons.

As reported by the New York Post, former Detroit Pistons star Thomas said he would deal for Simmons, and that the fault for his issues lies with the Philadelphia 76ers.

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“Here’s what happened,” Thomas said on The Big Podcast with Shaq. “He had a bad moment. He had some bad moments in the playoffs, right? What your team, your coach and your organisation is supposed to do in your bad moments, they are supposed to protect you. They ain’t supposed to air your dirty laundry out.”

That was in reference to Sixers coach Doc Rivers failing to answer in the affirmative after Philly’s loss to Atlanta in last season’s playoffs when asked whether a team could win a title with Simmons.

The point guard struggled badly in a second-round loss against the Hawks, appearing unwilling to shoot the ball even uncontested, but things have since gotten much worse.

Simmons has demanded a trade from the Sixers, been thrown out of practice for not trying and is now sitting games out due to mental health. He’s also become Public Enemy No. 1 in Philadelphia.

Joel Embiid has been publicly critical of Ben Simmons. (Photo by Christian Petersen / Getty Images North America/AFP)

It seems untenable for him to play for the Sixers again. Thomas sees that as the franchise’s fault.

“They all mishandled the situation, from what I’ve seen,” Thomas said. “Now Ben did get his feelings hurt. Ben’s feelings are hurt. You as the president of the team, you gotta go — you gotta put your ego aside and you gotta go massage that player to get him back.”

Thomas compared Simmons’ issues to Shaquille O’Neal shooting free throws, saying no one with the Lakers ever gave public criticism to O’Neal when he struggled at the line.

“I didn’t hear Phil Jackson dogging Shaq,” Thomas said. “I didn’t know the inside of that Laker organisation. Now they may have been saying, hey, big fella we need to work on free throws. But they weren’t publicly like, dissing him.”

This article first appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission