There’s been a fair bit of discussion of some curious Twitter likes from sports figures over the years, and the latest comes from Brooklyn Nets‘ forward Ben Simmons. Simmons himself has been under fire from many sports pundits for not suiting up in the Nets’ playoff series against the Boston Celtics, citing “physical and mental hurdles.” But Thursday night saw a lot of criticism for the primary figure Simmons was traded to the Nets for in February, now-Philadelphia 76ers‘ guard James Harden; the Miami Heat finished off a six-game series win over the Sixers with a 99-90 victory Thursday, and Harden scored just 11 points, none in the second half. That led to Harden getting roasted by many, including Fox Sports’ Skip Bayless, and to Simmons liking some of those tweets that mentioned that the Nets might now win that trade:
Ben Simmons’ last 2 likes 👁 pic.twitter.com/GdaUiQUwi2
— Josh (@JoshJimenezzz) May 13, 2022
As of 10:15 a.m. Eastern Friday morning, Simmons had removed his like of that top tweet, but he’d kept his like of Bayless’ tweet. And if that’s how he feels, he should be pretty happy with Bayless’ expansion of that into a full on-air rant Friday:
Interestingly enough, Bayless has been a big defender of Simmons in the past, including saying “I’m taking Ben Simmons, all day and all night” last month when Shannon Sharpe offered him a pick of Simmons or Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, or Donovan Mitchell. So this is an expansion of that position. But it’s certainly notable to see Simmons publicly like it. And as this tweet didn’t tag him, it seems likely he saw it from searching his name. We’ll see if that trade does prove “phoolish” for the Sixers or not, but Simmons seems to agree with that assessment from Bayless.
[IcyJoshX on Twitter; photo from Wendell Cruz/USA Today Sports]
