Last week, Shaquille O’Neal tore into Ben Simmons on Inside the NBA, calling him a crybaby and stating he doesn’t respect him for his actions this season.

Yesterday, Shaq revealed on The Big Man Podcast, that Simmons actually DM’d him, complaining about what O’Neal said about him. O’Neal didn’t want to go into what was said but said the 76ers guard was upset about his comments on TNT.

Simmons has long been off Instagram but recently reactivated his account. Some have shown concern that Simmons didn’t actually message the Hall-of-Famer, but it seems legitimate. O’Neal is on TV enough and well-publicized that he does not need to lie about this report.

ESPN released another report yesterday detailing the ongoing situation as Simmons continues to make himself look worse and worse. What is there to gain from messaging Shaq, who clearly doesn’t like you and is completely in the right?

Nothing he said was incorrect. Ben Simmons did bail on his team. Ben Simmons is a crybaby for refusing to show up or participate. Ben Simmons has shown no inclination of wanting to improve his game over his NBA career.

It’s a joke that Simmons is messaging O’Neal behind the scenes, trying to get him to stop what he’s saying.

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