The Philadelphia 76ers have not paid Ben Simmons the $8.25 million he was owed today, according to multiple reports, continuing a weeks-long standoff between the club and its star player.
Simmons' contract, a five-year, $177 million pact signed in 2019, was structured to include a series of 25 per cent payouts. The $8.25 million figure represents the second of these installments. Simmons had already been paid the first 25 per cent of the money owed to him for the season, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.
The money the 76ers have withheld from Simmons has been put in an escrow account, according to Tim Bontemps, Brian Windhorst and Bobby Marks of ESPN, with any fines Simmons accrues being deducted from that amount.
For each game Simmons misses, starting with the 76ers' Oct. 4 pre-season game against the Toronto Raptors, he will forfeit $227,613. That forfeiture, according to Marks, will not come out of the $8.25 million escrow Philadelphia has established.
Simmons has not reported to the 76ers' training camp since requesting a trade and conveying he does not intend to play another game for the team.
According to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, Simmons is believed to have told the team he understood that failing to report could lead to his salary being withheld.
As camp winds down and the pre-season inches closer, Fischer noted one possibility is Simmons reporting to camp but maintaining he is injured and therefore unable to compete.
Trouble between Simmons and the 76ers had been brewing since Philadelphia lost to the lower-seeded Atlanta Hawks last season during the Eastern Conference semifinals. Simmons received criticism for his poor play, notably shooting 34 per cent from the free-throw line in the playoffs, and questionable decisions on the court such as opting to pass rather than make an open shot that would have tied it up late in the fourth quarter of Game 7 against the Hawks.
Coach Doc Rivers said after the game he "didn't have an answer" when asked if Simmons could still be a point guard for a championship contender.
In the intervening months, a deeper rift appears to have grown between Simmons and the team.
Recently, Simmons said he is "done playing" with Joel Embiid, the franchise's other cornerstone player, and the "ecosystem around Embiid’s style simply isn’t conducive to the way he needs to play," according to a story published Tuesday by The Athletic.
"The situation is weird, disappointing, borderline kind of disrespectful to all the guys that are out here fighting for their lives," Embiid said on Thursday when asked about Simmons' comments.
Simmons was not present Monday for the 76ers' media day, however, team president Daryl Morey said: "We expect him back. We expect him to be a 76er."
