Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons’ first scheduled press conference since news of his contract holdout broke has been canceled after the Australian was involved in ‘drama’ at today’s 76ers practice session.
Simmons was scheduled to speak with the media on Tuesday afternoon. But, after the as-yet-undisclosed fracas broke out in one of Phillie’s final training sessions before the new season gets underway, the 76ers have instead opted to suspend Simmons for one game, citing ‘conduct detrimental to the team.’
This means that the Australian point guard will not feature in the 76ers opening game of the NBA season vs New Orleans Pelicans which is scheduled for Wednesday evening.
Why was Ben Simmons thrown out of the 76ers training session?
Details of the training session bust-up are scarce at present. But the incident reportedly took place just moments before Simmons was scheduled to meet with the press to discuss his contract hold out and thoughts on the upcoming season.
The 76ers have been tight-lipped on whatever happened so far, but ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has since reported that Phillie head coach Doc Rivers personally ejected Simmons.
To be fair to coach Rivers, reports circulating in the media yesterday suggested that his wantaway Aussie star was far from a model professional during yesterday’s practice, too:
Simmons is said to have practiced with his ‘mobile phone in his pocket.’ The Australian is also accused of refusing to greet his own teammates and ignoring the team huddle. So, it seems likely that coach Rivers quite simply had enough of Simmons’ attitude and marched him out of the session.
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