Clippers’ Ben Simmons Hits Back At Career Critics

The critics of Los Angeles Clippers guard Ben Simmons have followed him ever since the train ran off the rails in Philadelphia as a 76er. Simmons’s career since Philly has had the lowest of valleys but not many high points on the mountaintop. Now playing in Los Angeles, Simmons is again battling the realities of being off the floor instead of on it. Being off the floor has long been the theme of his career, and it’s where Simmons’s critics have hit him the most. Simmons recently spoke with ClutchPoints about those who have long critiqued his game, health, and desire to play basketball. It was a conversation that also led to the effects the media have on the NBA today, as social media and outside opinions are louder than ever.

Clippers’ Ben Simmons Hits Back At Career Critics

Los Angeles Clippers’ Ben Simmons Isn’t Letting His Critics Off the Hook In Sharp Rebuttal

Criticism comes with the gig, and every NBA player, even every sports player—NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB—you name it, deals with. Critics are everywhere in all sports leagues, legions of them. You can’t escape it. Just as the athlete has a job to do, so do the personalities on the morning talk show or the evening panel analyst on an ESPN or TNT crew. The voices deriving from the television screen and podcast landscape have a say now, whether athletes believe they should or shouldn’t. Simmons has dealt with this ever since he passed up a shot underneath the basket from then-teammate Joel Embiid. It was an open shot, but Simmons passed it up. That moment changed it all, and from there, his eventual exit from Philadelphia snowballed into physical and mental breakdowns. Fair or unfair, the outside talk regarding performance, or lack thereof, is part of being a high-profile player in the NBA.

Simmons has a response to the critics, and it’s frank and to the point. Speaking with Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints, Simmons shared his thoughts and feelings about those who have targeted him over the years, and he did so confidently.

“That’s them making s–t up. Like, imagine if I just said like, name whoever, and said whatever. It doesn’t hold any weight, you know? Like, where does it come from? It’s just their thought, it’s their opinion, and everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but I’ve been doing this my whole life since I was four years old. So nothing is going to change that. Yeah, nothing’s just going to change that out of nowhere.”

Media Vs Athletes

What Simmons is getting at is that everyone who has a voice doesn’t mean their voice rings true, even if that voice is Stephen A. Smith, who is, without question, sports television’s most prominent and loudest voice today. Again, from Stephen A’s perspective, he’s doing his job. However, the relationship between media and basketball players has been a popular subject of debate in recent months. Do TV personalities and analysts take things too far in their criticism? Simmons also touched on this with Azarly. He believes that today’s coverage of the NBA specifically negatively affects the game and those who play it.

Considering the trajectory of social media and its many platforms, the rapid rise of podcasting, and the popularity of shows like Inside the NBA and First Take, change likely will not come in the form the players of today’s game likely wish. As Simmons said in the interview, ‘It is what it is.’ Stephen A., Charles Barkley, and others like them are who they are. While personalities like them claim today’s players are too sensitive, the players bark back, claiming the voices are too pessimistic. Back and forth, back and forth, the war wages. Unfortunately, a hard-cased solution doesn’t appear to be on the horizon.