Sources: 76ers hold $8.25M owed to Simmons
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Tim Bontemps
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Brian Windhorst
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ESPN Senior Writer- ESPN.com NBA writer since 2010
- Covered Cleveland Cavs for seven years
- Author of two books
The Philadelphia 76ers did not pay Ben Simmons the $8.25 million — 25% of his contract — that he was owed Friday and placed that money into an escrow account, sources told ESPN.
Moving forward, the 76ers will deduct any fines that Simmons accrues as the season progresses. If, or when, Simmons shows up, he will be given the money that is remaining in it, sources told ESPN.
The next line of demarcation in this saga will come Monday, when the 76ers play their first preseason game in Toronto against the Raptors. If Simmons doesn’t return to the team before that game, he will be fined roughly $227,000 — the same number Simmons will be fined for every game he misses going forward.
Sources told ESPN that in the meeting between Simmons and Philadelphia’s leadership last month, the team made Simmons aware that this was a possibility – and, at the time, Simmons responded by saying that he understood that, and that it would not change his stance either on reporting to Philadelphia or rescinding his trade request.
“We’re in it for the long haul,” a source close to Simmons told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne this week.
When asked about the possibility of withholding this money from Simmons – who already received another $8.25 million on Aug. 2, as his contract states he will get two 25% chunks of his contract before the season begins — Philadelphia’s president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey, refused to say what would exactly happen but did leave this possibility open.
“I’d say we’re not going to talk about the specifics of fines or things like that, but I will say it’s pretty clearly spelled out in the CBA and in his contract what happens,” Morey said during his preseason press conference Monday.
As the 76ers returned to the court this week — and Simmons did not — the temperature on this situation has only risen.
Morey tried to spin it in a positive direction during his news conference Monday, saying that he compared to the tumultuous offseason between Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers — only for Rodgers to return and, the night before that news conference, lead Green Bay to a last-second win over the San Francisco 49ers.
“I think there’s a lot of hope,” Morey said. “I would say I watched last night a player lead his team to victory when a thousand pounds of digital ink were spilled on how much he would never play for that team again.
“Look, every situation is different, but we have a lot of optimism that we can make it work here.”
Superstar center Joel Embiid also initially expressed optimism about reuniting with Simmons, saying he was disappointed that the situation had reached the point it had between the two sides but that he still believes he could win with him as his co-star.
“Honestly, I would probably say I’m disappointed,” Embiid said. “Because I — look, obviously we haven’t won anything, but just going by what has been said through the media and you guys tweeting on your sources and stuff, I would look at it in the way that, look at what we’ve been able to do. … In the regular season we’ve been so good, and so dominant, that we know it’s working. … I’m disappointed that we’re in this situation. … I’m just disappointed he’s not here, because he knows it, too. He knows we can win together.”
In the wake of a subsequent report in The Athletic that Simmons had decided he couldn’t, actually, win alongside Embiid, the big man shot back during a lengthy answer when asked about it by reporters after practice Thursday afternoon.
“”The situation is disappointing, borderline kind of disrespectful to all the guys that are out here fighting for their lives,” Embiid told reporters at the team’s practice facility in Camden, New Jersey, going on to say that the idea the Sixers hadn’t built their team around Simmons was also incorrected.
“I feel like our teams have been built, whether it’s the shooting need or stretch 5 and all that stuff, I feel like [Simmons] always had it here. And we still have it,” Embiid said, before listing all the 3-point shooters on the roster. “… Our teams have always been built around his needs.”
“It was kind of surprising to see,” Embiid added, referring to the report. “We’ll say that, even going back to the reason we signed Al. We got rid of Jimmy, which I still think it was a mistake, just to make sure [Simmons] needed the ball in his hands. That’s the decision they made. Like I said, it is surprising.”
ESPN’s Bobby Marks contributed to this story
HOUSTON — San Diego Padres designated hitter Luis Arraez was carted off after colliding with Mauricio Dubon on a play at first base in the first inning of Sunday night’s game against the Houston Astros.
According to the Padres, Arraez was transported to Houston Methodist Hospital for further evaluation, and he was stable, conscious, responsive and could move his extremities.
During an in-game interview with ESPN’s Buster Olney on “Sunday Night Baseball,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said that Arraez has “a little bit of a cut on the jaw,” and that the club is “worried about the jaw, the stability of that.”
Arraez was seen in the Padres’ clubhouse after the game, which San Diego won 3-2.
On the first pitch of his at-bat, Arraez hit a drag bunt down the first-base line to Christian Walker, who flipped it to second baseman Dubon as he ran to cover first. Dubon then collided with Arraez, who appeared to hit Dubon’s arm or elbow with his face.
Both players hit the ground, but Arraez took the worst of it, lying motionless in foul territory next to first base as trainers and coaches from both teams attended to him.
Dubon and Walker, as well as Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, watched as Arraez was placed on a backboard and carted out of the stadium. As he was being placed on the cart, Arraez put his arm around Shildt.
Arraez entered hitting .287 with three home runs and seven RBIs this season. He is in his second season with the club after he was dealt to San Diego by the Miami Marlins last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava officially announced his transfer to UCLA via a social media post Sunday.
“My journey at UT has come to an end,” he wrote on Instagram. “This decision was incredibly difficult, and truthfully, not something I expected to make this soon. But I trust God’s timing, and I believe He’s leading me where I need to be.
“Even though this chapter is ending, a new chapter has begun and I am committed to UCLA!”
Iamaleava was a highly regarded recruit who led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season. He was No. 1 in ESPN’s transfer portal rankings and immediately gives UCLA one of the best-known players in the sport upon his arrival. The Bruins are coming off a 5-7 debut season by coach DeShaun Foster.
Iamaleava, a five-star prospect from Long Beach, California, was recruited by UCLA out of high school. His younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, committed to UCLA out of high school but changed his commitment on the morning of signing day and signed with Arkansas.
Those recruitments gave both sides plenty of familiarity and the ability to potentially move quickly.
Iamaleava passed for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in his first season as a starter, but in nine games against SEC opponents and Ohio State in the playoff, he threw for more than 200 yards only twice.
Tennessee’s offense finished No. 9 in the conference in scoring with 25.0 points per game in SEC play. The Volunteers’ offense was No. 1 in rushing and No. 11 in passing in league play.
UCLA is coming off a season in which it finished No. 14 in scoring offense and No. 12 in total offense in Big Ten play.
Iamaleava was earning $2.4 million at Tennessee under the contract he signed with Spyre Sports Group, the Tennessee-based collective, when he was still in high school. The deal would have paid him in the $10 million range altogether had he stayed four years at Tennessee.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel announced last week after the Volunteers’ spring game that the program was moving forward without Iamaleava after he missed practice and meetings April 11. He hadn’t alerted anyone on the team and was unresponsive afterward.
Heupel thanked Iamaleava and called the situation unfortunate, but added, “There’s no one bigger than the Power T, and that includes me.”
Iamaleava, a rising redshirt sophomore, officially entered the transfer portal Wednesday with a do-not-contact tag.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this report.
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