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The Brooklyn Nets have just finished participating in the Las Vegas Summer League and while Brooklyn did not have a chance to compete for the summer league championship, forward Jalen Wilson did win MVP for his efforts in the annual summer showcase. Now that the dust has settled on summer basketball for now, it’s a good time to catch up on something that happened in the beginning of the summer league.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith recently appeared on “The OGs Show” to discuss various topics with former NBA players in Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller and one of the talking points was something that Smith has discussed in the past. Eventually, the segment regarding players and their injuries came up and as it has happened in the past, Smith thought of Nets guard Ben Simmons as a player who he questions is really hurt.
“The only injury I’ve ever questioned is that (expletive) Ben Simmons,” Smith said. “He’s lucky that he’s not in prison for theft.” As most NBA fans know, Smith has been on the record plenty of times theorizing that Simmons’ lack of availability over the past few years has been due more to a lack of desire for the game of basketball than what any of his injuries have done to his body.
With that being said, it seems that Simmons’ agent, Bernie Lee, has had enough of Smith saying that his client doesn’t love basketball. When asked for comment from NetsDaily, Lee said that “Quite frankly.. I think Stephen A is an idiot and I only wish he still had his TV show so I could sit in his audience and voice my opinion to him while he attempted to do his job.”
For context, Smith has had this opinion of Simmons ever since his days with the Philadelphia 76ers which is when the injuries and mental health issues began for him amidst a budding NBA career. Simmons does not publicly address these kinds of matters often, but his agent took the chance to defend his client and call out one of the most prominent sports commentators in Smith.
Stephen A. Smith says Ben Simmons is lucky ‘he’s not in prison for robbery.’
Watch full episode here: https://t.co/znw620dHMT pic.twitter.com/IQs3UK1QYy
— The OGs Show (@theOGsShow) July 13, 2024
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2/2. So we asked Bernie Lee, Simmons agent, for comment. His response:
“Quite Frankly.. I think Stephen A is an idiot and I only wish he still had he’s TV show so I could sit in his audience and voice my opinion to him while he attempted to do his job…alas.. it got canceled…”— NetsDaily (@NetsDaily) July 14, 2024