Ben Simmons' woes at the charity stripe continue to be a major storyline for the Philadelphia 76ers. Simmons stunk it up again at the line in the Sixers' horrific 109-106 Game 5 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night, making just four of his 14 attempts as his team blew a 26-point lead to fall behind 3-2 in the second-round series.

Sixers head coach Doc Rivers was brutally honest about dealing with this Simmons problem after the game, and Simmons himself did the same when asked about why he's struggling so much with free throws. Of course, this isn't going to make Sixers fans feel good:

Ben Simmons has never been any good at the foul line, but he has totally tanked in these playoffs. A career 59.7% shooter at the stripe, he's a woefully pathetic 22-of-67 (32.8%) in these playoffs. That kind of dip from merely bad to embarrassing would seem to suggest he's deep in his own head, especially since teams are deploying a Hack-a-Ben strategy.

Simmons isn't just having problems at the line, though. He only took four shots total in Game 5 and was totally nonexistent as the Sixers collapsed in the second half. His aggression offensively, or lack thereof, is another major talking point, and one has to wonder if the two are connected. We know he's not going to shoot jumpers, but he might be scared of aggressively driving because he doesn't want to get fouled and shoot free throws.

While Ben Simmons is still a very good player, his problems could wind up nuking the Sixers' championship hopes. If Philly falls short in epic fashion, it wouldn't be a surprise at all to see Daryl Morey pull the trigger on a Simmons trade in the offseason. The same problems keep cropping up in the playoffs, and at some point the Sixers will just need to try something different if they keep falling short over and over.