Ben Simmons, a guard for the Brooklyn Nets, has filed a grievance against the nearly $20 million of salary the Philadelphia 76ers withheld from him this season, sources told ESPN on Saturday. This could set up a big showdown.
The grievance, which now goes to arbitration, could have a bigger impact on the league in the future when it comes to mental health and NBA contracts.
Philadelphia has said many times that Simmons broke his contract with the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association and that he should be able to get back the money the NBA gave him before the season started. In the past, the NBA and the NBPA have been at odds over this issue. Now, arbitration could set a precedent for how future issues of mental health and contracts might be dealt with in the future.
It was filed with all three groups this week, sources say.
The 76ers say that Simmons broke his player contract when he didn’t show up for training camp and didn’t play in the preseason and regular season because he didn’t want to play for them. Simmons came to Philadelphia at the end of the preseason. He said that his mental health was the reason he didn’t do as much as he should have.
Because Simmons didn’t agree with how much access the team and its doctors had to him, the 76ers and Simmons had a disagreement about how much access they had.
Since the big trade to Brooklyn for James Harden on Feb. 10, Simmons’ representatives have had several talks with the Sixers, sources say. They’re trying to avoid going to arbitration. Sources say that those talks didn’t work out, so the complaint was filed.
In a postseason meeting, Simmons and his agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, asked for a trade. Simmons had a bad performance in an Eastern Conference finals loss to Atlanta, which led to a split with the team. It’s been a long time since Simmons was the first player chosen in the NBA draught in 2016. He has been one of the league’s best defenders and signed a five-year, $170 million deal in 2019.
It all started on Nov. 15, when Simmons got paid for the first time. Philadelphia started taking back $360,000 for each game Simmons did not play this season. Due to Simmons getting an early paycheck in the off-season, there wasn’t enough money in each paycheck to cover the deductions for every game he played.
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There had been an amount for escrow that the NBA took from Simmons’ paychecks. The 76ers had been withholding almost $1.3 million of Simmons’ salary from each of his paychecks. That hasn’t changed since the Nets traded Simmons to the 76ers, sources say. The Nets had to take a salary from Simmons’ pay to send to the 76ers, sources say. Deductions should be taken out of Simmons’ last paycheck on April 30, so they should be taken out of his next paycheck. Another time. Simmons will get a check for $8.25 million on July 1 and October 1 of this year.
According to the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, a grievance must be filed within 30 days of the occurrence on which it is based. Or, if facts about a matter come to light, within 30 days of that time.
Simmons was traded from Philadelphia to Brooklyn six weeks ago. Sources say that Simmons’ representatives believe that the trade did not open up a 30-day window for Simmons to file a grievance because the issue had been going on all season.
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Simmons hasn’t played a game for the Nets yet, but he will soon. To get ready to play for the Nets, he had a back injury come back. This month, Simmons had an epidural injection to treat a herniated disc in his back. He hadn’t played since June when the Celtics lost in the playoffs. During the trade talks, Simmons’ back problem and relevant scans were made public. At the time, the Nets didn’t have any long-term problems because of them, sources said.
In the spring of the 2020 season, Simmons was hurt by the injury for the first time. He also told the Sixers’ training camp in October that he was having problems with his back. The injury was looked at and treated by Philadelphia’s team doctors, and he was soon cleared to play basketball again. There were only a few times this season when Philadelphia did not find Simmons in breach of the terms of his contract, sources said.
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