{"id":157954,"date":"2021-11-10T03:16:17","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T04:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=157954"},"modified":"2021-11-10T05:56:53","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T05:56:53","slug":"barkley-rips-jerk-ben-simmons-over-standoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=157954","title":{"rendered":"Barkley rips 'jerk' Ben Simmons over standoff"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA<\/a> legend Charles Barkley has taken a fresh swipe at wantaway Aussie Ben Simmons<\/a>, insisting it was time for the 76ers to use the stick, not the carrot.<\/p>\n

The crew on TNT's NBA coverage were discussing the Simmons situation, and the concept of 're-recruiting' Simmons into the fold as though he was a fresh face – something Barkley took exception to.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"This dude has done everything he can not to be re-recruited. They started off the season begging him to come back," he said.<\/p>\n

"He came, and then he acted like a jerk in practice. They wanted him back, then, because he wanted to get paid he came back and like I said, he started acting like a jerk and they kicked him out."<\/p>\n

Simmons ended his holdout a couple of weeks' ago and returned to practice with the team, but was sent home by coach Doc Rivers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Simmons<\/p>\n

He re-appeared a week later<\/a> but has yet to feature in a game for Philadelphia – Barkley said he only returned for financial reasons.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Pattinson suspended and fined by Cricket Australia over ugly Shield incident<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Parramatta star spotted dining with Bulldogs officials<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Calls for NFL ref to be suspended after 'ridiculous' hip-check<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"They started fining him again – now he's back," he said.<\/p>\n

"They've bent over backwards to kiss this dude's ass.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Now they've started kicking his ass. There's only two. You kiss somebody's ass or you kick their ass. It's time to kick his ass."<\/p>\n

Last month, Barkley said there was no way that Simmons could play another game for the team<\/a>, declaring the Aussie's relationship with the city "over".<\/p>\n

"There's only two bonds in pro sports: the locker room and the fans," he said.<\/p>\n

"He's burned both of those bridges."<\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/p>\n

Simmons, the 2016 No.1 draft pick, still has four years left on his contract.<\/p>\n

He signed a five-year contract in 2019, worth just over $230 million dollars. The 211-centimetre playmaker is owed $44 million for this season.<\/p>\n

The 76ers are enjoying a decent start to the season, boasting an 8-4 record through four games.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NBA legend Charles Barkley has taken a fresh swipe at wantaway Aussie Ben Simmons, insisting it was time for the 76ers to use the stick, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=157954"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157956,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157954\/revisions\/157956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=157954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=157954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=157954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}