Ben Simmons has been the talk of the town after the former Rookie of the Year bailed on the Brooklyn Nets in their Game 4 loss to the Boston Celtics on Monday. The general belief was Simmons was finally going to make his Nets debut in that game only for us to realize at the last minute that he was not going to be available to suit up yet again.

NBA insider Shams Charania of The Athletic has now dropped a truth bomb on Ben Simmons' availability for the Nets in Game 4. Shams acknowledged that the organization expected him to suit up but in truth, even if he did, he probably wasn't even going to play anyway:

“There was an expectation around that organization that at least he'll be in uniform and available to play for Steve Nash,” Shams said on a recent episode of The Pat McAfee Show. “I'm told even if he was in uniform, there's a chance he even might not have played in Game 4, but at least he was taking the effort. He was at least in uniform, at least being able to be present around the team. And he just could not get there.”

As Shams said, it's “all mental” for Simmons at this point. It's possible that he knew about the Nets' plan not to call his number in Game 4 and this could have influenced his decision not to suit up. Yes, it's his back issue that was officially blamed for his unavailability but as Shams said, the mere sight of Ben Simmons in uniform would have had a significant impact on his stature with the organization.