Report: Ben Simmons must wait to rejoin 76ers for team activities

October 13, 2021 - 9:37am

Philadelphia 76ers' Ben Simmons (25) reacts after a dunk as Washington Wizards' Ish Smith (14) and Davis Bertans (42) look on during the first half of Game 2 in a first-round NBA basketball playoff series, Wednesday, May 26, 2021, in Philadelphia. (Matt Slocum/AP)

All-Star guard/forward Ben Simmons won’t be able to participate in team activities with the Philadelphia 76ers until at least Friday after ending his weeks-long standoff with the team, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reports.

Ben Simmons passed his physical and held a brief meeting with the Sixers front office on Tuesday, but remains ineligible to participate in team-related activities until Friday due to NBA health and safety protocols, sources told ESPN. https://t.co/cfK1MpKs0O

— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) October 13, 2021

Shelburne reports the wait is due to NBA health and safety protocols.

ESPN reports a player who is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 must return one negative test, while an unvaccinated player must have two negative tests for individual workouts and two more negative tests to be in a team environment.

Simmons reported to the team on Monday, according to ESPN.

The club did not pay Simmons the $8.25 million he was owed Oct. 1, according to multiple reports.

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, he would forfeit $227,613. That forfeiture, according to Marks, will not come out of the $8.25 million escrow Philadelphia has established.

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