Brooklyn Nets star Ben Simmons‘ shooting woes are well-documented. As a matter of fact, you could say that his unwillingness to take one particular shot led to what turned out to be a messy exit from the Philadelphia 76ers. Bradley Beal is well aware of Simmons' shortcomings, particularly when it comes to the free-throw line, so at one point, the Washington Wizards star decided to take full advantage of the same.
An unnamed Eastern Conference executive recently shared an epic story involving Beal and Simmons. At that time, Simmons was still plying his trade with the Sixers. The pair got into it during a game, and it ended in Simmons losing a $20,000 bet:
“The first guy that started the Hack-a-Ben process was Scott Brooks with Washington,” the executive told Steve Bulpett of heavy. “They’re playing Philly a few years ago and Philly’s up by around 20. Brooks starts putting Simmons on the line in the fourth quarter, and the game is getting closer as Ben is stepping to the line and bricking more and more foul shots. So finally Bradley Beal had to foul him. Usually, you don’t have your best player fouling, but at that point he did.
“When that happened, Ben and Beal had this sort of animated conversation. Ben said, ‘I’m tired of you motherf*****s fouling me on purpose, man. I’m going to step up here and knock these two down. Five thousand dollars says I will.’ To which Beal replied, ‘You wanna make it 20?’ And then he went up and bricked one. I don’t think he said another word.”
That's absolutely savage. To make matters worse, it was Ben Simmons who started the bet out of sheer frustration. Beal called his bluff and upped the ante. Unfortunately for Ben, he couldn't save his $20k (and his pride) from the line.
It won't be surprising if this incident had a significant impact on Simmons' shooting problems moving forward. Talk about taking a massive hit with your confidence, right?
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