Peter Helliar has potted Ben Simmons and Dave Hughes in the same sentence while delivering his verdict on the ugly saga.
Peter Helliar has potted Ben Simmons and Dave Hughes in the same sentence in a hilarious segment on The Project on Wednesday night.
Simmons’ cold war with his Philadelphia team reached it’s ugliest moment on Wednesday when the Australian was sent home from training and suspended for one game after failing to participate in a team training session.
The 25-year-old is trying to force his team into a trade after officially requesting to be moved to a rival team in August.
The team has not received an offer that meets their asking price.
Watch the 21/22 NBA Season with ESPN on Kayo. Live coverage every week plus every game of the NBA Finals. New to Kayo? Start your free trial >
Simmons had cut off all communication with the team for more than two months after his staggering meltdown in the 2021 NBA Playoffs — and the way his own team criticised him in the aftermath.
The salty relationship resulted in Simmons failing to show up for the team’s pre-season training camp and only showed up last week having been fined more than $1 million, according to an ESPN report.
Simmons practised with the team on Tuesday but was spotted snubbing the team huddle and stepping onto the court with his phone in his pocket.
The awkwardness of he situation gave Helliar plenty of material to work with on Wednesday night and the Network 10 star chose to focus on the weird dynamic of the 76ers needing Simmons to play in order to boost his trade value — in order so they can get rid of him in exchange for a deal they are comfortable with.
Helliar described the situation by linking it with Hughes and his departure from The Project.
“So unless a deal is done, the 76ers need to hang on to Ben in order to increase his trade value, in order to bugger him off. Ugly stuff,” he said.
“It’s a bad situation. It’s a little bit like how they kept Hughesy around on this show before offloading him to The Masked Singer to play the moustache freak.”
Helliar said Simmons’ latest blow was “as unsettling as Hughesy’s grotesque moustache”.
The veteran comedian finished the segment by giving his thoughts on where Simmons needs to go with the next step in his career.
“It’s gotten really ugly. Ben Simmons needs to get out of Philadelphia and this is one moment in time for Ben Simmons,” he said.
“He’s 25 and a superstar and needs to find a new group of mates to play basketball with.”
His teammates clearly don’t want to play with Simmons either.
All-Star teammate Joel Embiid took another public swipe at Simmons on Wednesday.
“At the end of the day, our job is not to babysit somebody,” Embiid told reporters. “We get paid to produce on the court, go out, play hard, win some games. That’s what we get paid for.
“We don’t get paid to come out here and try to babysit somebody. That’s not our job. I’m sure my teammates feel that way.
“At this point, I don’t care about that man, honestly. He does whatever he wants.
“I’m only focused on trying to make the team better, win some games, play hard every night and try to lead the guys we have here and I’m sure they feel the same way.
“Like I said, I’m not going to babysit. I’d be willing to babysit if someone wants to listen but that’s not my job.”
Simmons behaviour since his return to the team has come under fire this week — and it was revealed Wednesday he has even been snubbing the team’s stadium staff and employees.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
