Ben Simmons was the first pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. He was a good player who showed great potential and he has always lacked good shooting capabilities. However, he made up for it by being extremely explosive while driving to the rim and grabbing rebounds and assists. In all his 4 seasons, he has managed to get decent statistics.

Ben Simmons has completely fallen off the map this season. He has not played a single game and his absence is following the 76ers loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the playoffs last season. His coach, Doc Rivers, called him out and Simmons took getting called out personally. Instead of improving his game, he stopped playing altogether.

Shaquille O’Neal expressed his opinions on this situation in a conversation on NBA on TNT. Shaq expressed his opinions on Simmons and called him “soft” and a “crybaby“. Shaq’s reasoning was that all NBA players get criticized. Even legends like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and so on got criticized by the fans and media every now and then. Additionally, criticism is a part of being in the spotlight. If you are in the spotlight, there will always be some haters.

Shaq revealed that after he made these comments, Ben Simmons contacted him.

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What did Ben Simmons and Shaquille O’Neal talk about?

In a recent episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq”, Shaq revealed how Ben Simmons had messaged him on Instagram regarding the comments he made on NBA on TNT. Shaq believes that Ben Simmons has taken a lot of money on his contract and it is not fair for him to sit out the entire season when he is being paid so much.

Shaq revealed how earlier NBA players never earned so much. “Magic paved the way for Mike. They wasn’t making no money. Mike paved the way for me, to get all that bread I was getting. I paved the way for Garnett.” Shaq continued to say “Ben Simmons messing the money up. They already think we’re spoiled They already think we don’t deserve it.”

Shaq refused to reveal what Simmons said to him. However, Shaq kept stressing the fact that you cannot just leave your teammates to fend for themselves. Especially if you’re earning almost 40 million dollars a year.

According to some fans and pundits, Ben Simmons seems to have confidence issues. Shaq says that Simmons is troubled with what others say about him. However, instead of improving himself, he chooses to lay low.

Do you think Ben Simmons’ absence from the Sixers is justified? Let us know in the comments.

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