Shaq Has A Wild Reason For Naming Ben Simmons An NBA Player He’d Pay To Go See

Shaquille O’Neal has never been shy about calling out NBA players who disappoint him for one reason or another. In the past, Ben Simmons has drawn the Hall of Fame center’s ire, with Simmons’ playoff woes during his tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers and what happened in the aftermath of his final postseason series with the team being particularly big sore spots.

Now, Shaq is back to calling out Simmons, this time on an episode of The Big Podcast. The big fella got asked by Adam Lefkoe which NBA players he’d buy a ticket to go watch, and perhaps surprisingly, Simmons immediately popped up.

“Ben Simmons, because I would wanna learn how you could make $80 million and play 55 games,” Shaq said. “Teach me. Teach me how you could play 55 games in three seasons and get $30 million, $40 million, and get another $40 million just by saying your back hurt. Get some f*ckin Icy Hot, man up.”

Shaq did go on to give a serious answer — he, once again, made it a point to make clear that he loves Nikola Jokic — but he really did lay into Simmons with this one. Anyway, Simmons only appeared in 15 games this season, the last of which came in late February. He will not play again this year due to a pinched nerve in his lower back.