Report: Ben Simmons’ camp inquired again about fines possibly being recovered (they cannot be)

As if another trade rumor wasn’t enough to satiate your Ben Simmons drama palate for the day, we had a report from PhillyVoice’s Kyle Neubeck hit the wire this evening, regarding the fines accruing in Simmons’ absence. Per Neubeck:

“After being fined for missing Philadelphia’s preseason loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday night — a penalty of roughly $360,000 — Simmons’ representation had another discussion with the players association in which it was reiterated they would be unable to recoup the money being deducted from the $8.25 million sitting in escrow, sources say, and it was communicated to the Sixers that these early fines were perhaps higher than they expected.”

The implication in the report is that Simmons is not loving missing out on these paychecks as much as his “I’ll sit out the whole year if you don’t trade me, I don’t care” stance would have you believe. As has been pointed out by The Atlantic’s Derek Bodner and others, there’s nothing to really stop Simmons from showing up and acting out in hopes of expediating a trade, a la Jimmy Butler in Minnesota. If the Sixers persist in their stance of waiting for a return of reasonably fair value for Simmons, we’ll see if Ben eventually opts to adopt that different tactic and allow the direct deposits to once again hit his checking account.

In the meantime, you could read this as “I’m never coming to Philadelphia again” or “Another mortgage payment was due and my incoming revenue is a little lighter than usual,” but this report today from The Inquirer’s Keith Pompey was certainly interestingly timed:

A few spare million and the house that “What did Trae shoot?” built could be yours. We’ll continue to keep you updated here on the latest in the Simmons-Sixers soap opera.