On April 25, Beijing time, Ben Simmons told the Nets that his back was sore again and had been determined not to play G4. ESPN reported that the Nets were surprised and disappointed. TNT's two great stars, O'Neill and Barkley, discussed Simmons' absence from G4, and O'Neill shelled Simmons for being untrustworthy, bluntly saying that not playing G4 was a cowardly move. Barkley was even more pointed in saying that this incident would make Simmons lose the respect of his teammates.
Reggie Miller criticized Simmons for not being competitive on social media, and O'Neill commented on Miller's remarks: "This is what we often call cowardly behavior. Seeing that the Nets had lost, Simmons changed his mind to say that he had back pain, and if you weren't ready to play, just say you weren't ready, and people would respect you more. Reggie (Miller) is right, if you're not going to play, don't say you're ready to play. I think you should go play this ball, you should take on the challenge, try to help your team win, but you choose not to do it, and say your back hurts..."
When he said this, O'Neill's expression was dismissive, he had always disliked Simmons, and now Simmons's unbelief made O'Neill look down on the alumnus. Both are from Louisiana and are also NBA champions.
Barkley also spoke about Simmons' absence. He gave two examples, one is Raptors rookie Barnes, and the other is himself at that time.
"Personally, I think he should try to play at G3," Barkley said, "back to the Raptors game, the boy who was named the rookie of the year (Barnes), he was playing with one leg in his tracks, he was just trying to come back and play." Barkley also mentioned that he injured his knee before a grab seven, but he took three shots to force the game, and although he knew the team was likely not to win, he did not want to have regrets.
"I don't care what the fans say about [Simmons], the fans just talk about it, I want to say that when the teammates don't respect you, that's the big problem. They'll think 'we can't count on this guy', and now Simmons is in such a situation where teammates think 'does this guy still want to play'. This has happened in Philadelphia and now it's happening in Brooklyn! ”
Buckley felt that Simmons should at least try it. "The team wants him to play for 20 minutes, if you try it, the result is not persistent, people will say brother, thank you for trying hard, but now he is not even willing to try."
This isn't the first time O'Neill and Barkley have shelled Simmons. The two criticized Simmons for not training hard enough on a show last September, and they knew all day long that they were posting sports cars on social media and showing affection.