Source: Alex Goodlett / Getty
While fans still aren’t over the Australian baller’s refusal to play for the
Philadelphia 76ers and him not showing up statistically for the
Brooklyn Nets, he can’t even win a simple bet with one of his contemporaries.
According to
Heavy Sports, a unanimous NBA executive relived what it was like for teams playing against Simmons when he was still in Philly, and even remembered the hack-a-Ben method. The team infamously used to foul the three-time All-Star and force him to take free throws that they knew he’d likely miss because he’s averaged just
59.1%. at the line.
“The first guy that started the Hack-a-Ben process was Scott Brooks with Washington. They’re playing Philly a few years ago, and Philly’s up by around 20. Brooks starts putting Simmons on the line in the fourth quarter, and the game is getting closer as Ben is stepping to the line and bricking more and more foul shots. So finally, Bradley Beal had to foul him. Usually, you don’t have your best player fouling, but at that point, he did,” the exec told Heavy.
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At one point, Simmons exchanged words with Bradley Beal about the intentional fouling which ended up with him losing a bet.
“When that happened, Ben and Beal had this sort of animated conversation. Ben said, ‘I’m tired of you motherf-ckers fouling me on purpose, man. I’m going to step up here and knock these two down. Five thousand dollars says I will.’ To which Beal replied, ‘You wanna make it 20?’ And then he went up and bricked one. I don’t think he said another word,” the exec said.
The Wizards used the method so much during that fourth-quarter game in 2017, that it put Simmons on the free-throw line 24 times and he only made 12 shots. The 76ers still won the game, but it didn’t come without the Wizards exposing the beginning of Simmons’ shooting woes that have come to plague him and possibly even create a phobia.
Twitter never misses a chance to roast Ben Simmons, see the best reactions below.
