After a long and messy divorce with the Philadelphia 76ers that ended with him getting traded to the Brooklyn Nets, Ben Simmons is back in Philly as a member of the opposing team.
While Philadelphia is the City of Brotherly Love, that doesn’t always show with the city’s sports fans. Simmons got a lot of the heckling that Philadelphia is known for, even before Thursday’s game got underway.
The heckling started before Simmons even arrived at the arena. Some of it required adult supervision. Other hecklers had cleaner language but were no less harsh.
“Why the grievance? Why spit in the face of Sixers fans?”
-Sixers fan to Ben Simmons in Philly today. Ben actually signed some autographs for fans pic.twitter.com/7FBNqrvpYW
— John Clark (@JClarkNBCS) March 10, 2022
Ben Simmons sneaking out of hotel trying to avoid heckling fans. @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/VjnQipa6n2
— Chris O'Connell (@CoconnellFox29) March 10, 2022
The jeering only continued once Simmons got to the Wells Fargo Center and took the floor.
Ben Simmons takes the court in Philly
He's expected to join the Nets on the bench tonight on TNT pic.twitter.com/HxQIsso6fD
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 11, 2022
Ben Simmons has taken the floor in Philly. pic.twitter.com/UCMJqkqifH
— Nets Videos (@SNYNets) March 10, 2022
Sixers fans are a DIFFERENT BREED 😬😬pic.twitter.com/ga99ZUrLeH
— Piñata Farms 🪅 (@pinatafarms) March 10, 2022
Things are getting a 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 weird down at court level 😳 pic.twitter.com/H2GM0MPldJ
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) March 11, 2022
Crowd is chanting “Shoot the ball” at Ben Simmons as he continues to pass to Patty Mills during his warmup
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) March 10, 2022
Fans chanting “shoot the ball” at Ben Simmons
He did not #Sixers pic.twitter.com/nzK22MmgMS
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) March 10, 2022
Not Sixers fans jokingly cheering a Ben Simmons dunk 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/tMZY9hhRg3
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) March 10, 2022
One last huge round of boos for Ben Simmons as he leaves the court #Sixers pic.twitter.com/4MTaioSy1m
— Eliot Shorr-Parks (@EliotShorrParks) March 11, 2022
The Philadelphia fans will have to wait a little longer to boo Simmons during a game. While Simmons will be on the bench on Thursday, he’s still getting over a back injury and as such, won’t play in the game.
Thursday is the final regular season matchup between the two teams this season. With that, we won’t see Simmons on the Wells Fargo Center court during a game this season — unless the two teams meet in the playoffs. That’s something to look forward to if it happens.
Judging by the reaction of the fans on Thursday, we’re guessing that the Philadelphia faithful will be ready to greet Simmons whenever he returns to the Wells Fargo Center in the future.