Shaq Says Ben Simmons Was ‘Mad', DM'd Him After TV Roast

Shaq says Simmons was 'mad', DM'd him after TV roast originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Folks, we've got a real-deal barbeque chicken alert on our hands.

Last week, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal torched Sixers star and current holdout Ben Simmons on TNT for his behavior this season, and in particular the fact that Simmons seems to bristle at criticism instead of using it to grow his game.

O'Neal called Simmons a "crybaby" while refusing to actually use Simmons' name, calling him "the other guy" in reference to his standing alongside Joel Embiid, who O'Neal praised for responding well to critiques of his game.

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It was a pretty scathing rebuke of Simmons as far as national TV talking heads are concerned, but it wasn't anything that hasn't been said already during Simmons' seven-month holdout.

And yet apparently it was a bridge too far for the 25-year-old All-Star.

Because O'Neal said in a new episode of his podcast, 'The Big Podcast with Shaq', that Simmons actually went out of his way to direct message O'Neal on Twitter in response to the rant.

Here's how the exchange went, according to O'Neal:

"SHAQ: He kinda got in my DM and said some things, and I said some things back.

"CO-HOST: What'd he say? Tell us, c'mon.

"SHAQ: I don't - I can't do that.

"CO-HOST: He said some things?

"SHAQ: No, I can't do that.

"CO-HOST: So wait, Ben Simmons DM'd you after he heard what you said last week?

"SHAQ: Yes. Yeah. All I said is, 'You're leaving your man out there, you need to play.' That's all I said. He said some things, but I'm not going to elaborate on what he said because that's not cool. [...] He was mad."

THAT IS SOME SPICY BEEF.

I love how petty O'Neal is here. He's too "respectful" of Simmons to air out exactly what the two said to each other... but he still told us that it happened. And he still told us that Simmons was mad about the roast. And he still did the roasting in the first place.

So really, Shaq's just doing this to stoke the flames. And you've got to respect it.

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Do we blame Simmons for punching back at Shaq? I don't know. The guy is still relatively young and he's clearly going through a lot, from struggles with his confidence during the playoffs to a deluge of public scrutiny and criticism.

But Simmons also brought the majority of this upon himself, so I have a hard time ginning up sympathy for him.

Simmons has also put himself in a bad spot by not speaking publicly since his postgame press conference after the Sixers' Game 7 defeat vs. the Hawks. You want your side to be heard? You want to control the message at least a little? Say something, man. Anything. The seven months of silence is only making it worse.

Because until he speaks, or until he's traded, this kind of stuff is going to keep happening.