Swingman Ben Simmons has been granted a year of service for 2021/22 despite missing the entire season, league sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN.
According to Lowe, Simmons’ service-time update came in the form of a side letter when the new Collective Bargaining Agreement was released in late June. The issue was a contentious one, with executives from several NBA teams arguing Simmons should not have received credit for ’21/22 due to his holdout.
Years of service impact how much money players can make, whether it’s the veteran’s minimum or a maximum-salary contract, among other benefits. Simmons now officially has seven years of service under his belt. He has technically only played in five of those seven seasons, with Simmons missing the entire ’16/17 season — which would have been his rookie campagin — due to a foot injury.
Simmons’ service situation for ’21/22 is intended to be viewed in isolation and is not meant to be a precedent for future cases, sources tell ESPN.
As Lowe writes, Simmons requested a trade in the 2021 offseason and refused to play for the Sixers in ’21/22. The three-time All-Star cited mental health issues for not fully engaging with the team.
Simmons was traded to the Nets at the 2022 deadline in the deal that sent James Harden to Philadelphia. He didn’t play for Brooklyn in ’21/22 either due to knee and back problems, undergoing a microdiscectomy surgery in April 2022 to repair a herniated disc.
The Sixers withheld Simmons’ salary in ’21/22, Lowe notes, citing a breach of contract. Simmons and the NBPA filed a grievance to recoup the withheld money, reaching a settlement with the Sixers last summer that paid Simmons a portion of the $20MM that was withheld.
Harden recently requested his own trade out of Philadelphia, but his situation is different because he’s in the final year of his contract. A clause in the CBA says if Harden were to refuse to report to training camp or play in games for more than 30 days, the Sixers could potentially block him from entering free agency and signing with any other team, including international clubs, sources confirmed to Lowe.
That said, a report earlier today indicated that Harden intended to show up to training camp if he was still on the roster at that time, so that could be a moot point. Still, it illustrates that there are potentially severe penalties to holding out in certain scenarios.
Simmons was limited to 42 games with the Nets last season, as knee and back issues continued to hamper the Australian. Brooklyn is hopeful he’ll be healthy by September before training camp begins.
doctors note goes a long way in this crazy mixed up world
Payment for Services refused and not Rendered.
Can the rest of us workers Sign-up for that ?
Get a doctors note and you can bring a gorilla into your rental house w zero deposit
Comparing your day to day electrician gig to playing in the NBA will always be funny to me
“Simmons’ service situation for ’21/22 is intended to be viewed in isolation and is not meant to be a precedent for future cases, sources tell ESPN”
Bwahahaha. I wonder who this statement is meant for. Maybe the players. Except the union is smarter than that.
Most everything is hoped to be viewed in isolation. Most everything is agreed to not be a precedent. But does not = reality
aka the “Malingerer Provision”.
Maybe the Doctor worked out a Cut of Simmons’ Financial Settlement ?
Also known as Collision.
Collision? I’m assuming collusion?
Yes, sorry, meant Collusion.
Hope this weakling retires
Of course it will be used as a precedent. Any good lawyer or agent is gonna remember this.
The new CBA will have a Simmons clause. It’s ridiculous at this point
A Malingerer is a Person pretending to have an illness in order to get a benefit.
The feigned illness can be mental or physical.
Malingering is also when someone exaggerates symptoms of an illness for the same purpose.
Malingering is an act, not a condition.
…. emphasis on the last Sentence there.
Only when Ben realized he wasn’t going to get Paid did he fabricate this Mental illness angle. Damn right there should be a new “ Simmons Rule “ in the next CBA.
All that’s nice GangGreen, but can you prove he didn’t have a mental condition?
Ganggreen, you know what they say about karma…. If one day you’re sick, injured, having a mental health crisis, or any debilitating issues, you may finally see that this world is largely void of empathy thanks to people like you. You don’t know Ben, you haven’t walked in his shoes, or lived his life. I’m glad he’s at least trying to stick with his career until he turns the corner. I can be a sceptic sometimes too, but I know some people who have lost themselves to mental illness, chronic pain, and chronic illness. Money and fame isn’t a cure. Let the man be. And why hate on him because the union has protected him from the lack of compassion and understanding from his employer? Isn’t that why unions were created? Sounds like you’re just jealous and bitter you missed the cut somewhere. Careful how you judge others.
This is a 2023 comment if I’ve ever seen one.
Cringe at its finest. I’m scared about how it can potentially get worse somehow. “Let’s protect this entitled spoiled millionaire cause we’re insane too” Is too common now.
No, full stop. What Ben did was MOCK people with mental conditions. He conveniently didn’t have one until the Sixers started demanding him be a better player. He should be criticized for lying as he has.
Like his initials, Ben was Bull Sh!ttin about that mental health stuff.
He (and his people) know all you gotta say is “mental health”….
Ben Simmons basically spit in Kevin Love’s face. You had 1 player who genuinely opened up about his mental health issues, and you had one who was looking for a way to circumvent fines and get paid to not play.
You should all be mocking Ben for his lack of improvement and unwillingness to shoot the rock to help his team, but to attack him because of health reasons that are confidential shows how lame and immature you are. Every whiney argument on here is based on conjecture. Nowhere does it say they have to tell jerks like you that they have mental health issues. No one cared about Ben Gordon even after he lost his mind. Everyone laughed at Royce White thinking the promise of money and playing in the NBA should cure his anxiety. No one cares about Delonte West who ended up on the street because of his illness. Many of us have insurance to cover being off work and if they don’t pay you can sue them. The NBA never had that coverage before and players had to suffer in silence. The NBA is now protecting and helping players with these type of health issues. I also have seen several people post on this site about Kevin Love being the example for this when he himself stated it was Demar Derozan speaking out first that gave him the courage to do so. Check your racism at the door. I didn’t even have to do homework on this.
Ben this is your agent on the phone we’re gonna tell em your immaturity and lack of prep are a result of a mental health issue if they don’t cede to your trade demands. The media and white knight idiots will love defending a multi millionaire, they’ll eat that bullspit up
Not based on conjecture. Based on quite a bit of circumstantial and contextual evidence, from which folks are able to make semi-educated guesses. And the surrounding pieces do not paint Simmons in a good light. Impossible that we’re wrong about him? No. But would I bet any amount of money on being wrong about Simmons? Also no.
By the way, calling people racists for not knowing every single player who has come out about their mental health issues is laughable. I did personally, buy the hypocrisy in calling out conjecture about Simmons while accusing others of being racist without knowing what they knew is astounding.
“I didn’t even have to do homework on this”
It shows.
@fid, while you’re fundamentally correct with everything you’ve written, it’s still hard to emphasize for someone who makes $30M+ per year and not work when others can barely afford tickets to watch the very games the player is getting paid to perform in…for the cost of a house that individual strives to pay for in their lifetime. While I’ll support his need for help, the criticism comes with the territory that he signed up for. And his handling of the situation and the teams could’ve been much better. Shutting out teammates, etc. doesn’t help the situation. To me, he shouldn’t get credit for the season. It’s not a sport related injury but rather a personal issue that a team has to payout. They didn’t sign up for that.
Ben is a loser.
The plan SHAM worked for bennie
This is why Portland needs to just stop the nonsense and give Liliard to Miami. It’s where he wants to go. No one will trade for him because he will just sit out and refuse to play and still get paid. Load management for the season.
Portland trading him to Miami will be the worst thing to happen to the NBA, and that’s saying a lot with how the last decade has gone.
If they deal Dame to Miami and end up taking a subpar package just to avoid his holdout, every star player will openly start doing the same. Yes, KD did say that he preferred to play for the Suns, but he never said “trade me there or else”. If anything, his trade there at the deadline last season came as a bit of a surprise as the talk to Phoenix happened in the summer. I’m sure once he knew the Nets were dealing Kyrie to Dallas that he requested a deal as well to Management, but he did so behind closed doors and it let the Nets get a pretty good package for him.
This will repeat everywhere until the NBA has six teams with big fours, 75% of the league taking vet minimums and teams who draft and develop well enough that they lose those guys to one of the six teams with a big four and 10 minimum contract guys. Everyone will be hardcapped and no one will be able to make a signing or trade.
24-25 Miami Heat Roster – LeBron again (they dealt a 2046 1st round pick to get number 35 in the draft, drafted Bronny, and have him in the G-League), Jimmy, Bam, Dame, JJ Jr, then Noel, RoCo, Kornet, Ish, both Hernangomez brothers, Drummond, Fournier, and let’s throw in Jose Calderon and Brian Scalabrini coming out of retirement to take the vet minimums like every guy from Noel down.
Yea I don’t see it as the worst thing. Dame’s age, contract, and injury history make this move risky anyway. He could show up and the whole thing implodes like the Nets. Nothing is guaranteed to pan out, it’s all good on paper.
Nets situation was completely different. That involved overly entitled prima-donnas who games are built at straight talent. Not that Dame isn’t a talented prima-donna, but he actually plays with the effort level and grind to justify it.
There is no chance it implodes in Miami. But to your point, financially it will make it difficult for them down the road. But Riley is genius, it will just cost them a down year or two to readjust.
-Yes, KD did say that he preferred to play for the Suns, but he never said “trade me there or else”.-
Well, he never said that publicly. Usually what we get publicly, is just a small glimpse of what actually happens.
we’re all mental.
Leave Ben alone. He clearly earned it
Give Ben whatever he wants at this pt. He’s lost all respect from other players, coaches, the league. Here’s a service credit which will be irrelevant when no one ever signs you to another contract.