Ben Simmons shocked many of us when he showed up to Philadelphia somewhere around halftime of a preseason game last week. Monday, he was actually at practice, albeit a little mopey and aloof.
But still, his presence there was something that seemed hard to picture just a few weeks ago. Simmons brilliantly executed the “stuff a jersey into your pocket, because the media will think it’s an enormous 1980’s sized-cellphone and that will really stir the fanbase up” play. Put that jersey or hatever right next to Anthony Davis’s infamous Looney Tunes tee , “James Harden’s XXL warmup” and the full 9 person ESPN interview crew Jimmy Butler had pop out for him seconds after blowing up practice in the trade request stunt Hall-of-Fame.