Did Ben Simmons Try to Get Out of Playing Game 7 Against the Hawks by Faking COVID Exposure?

That's what some inside of the 76ers organization believe.

According to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, Ben Simmons almost missed game 7 against the Hawks last season after he claimed exposure to a masseuse that had an inconclusive COVID test result.

Others inside the organization had doubts about whether Simmons had actually seen the masseuse.

From The Big Lead:

Simmons was being held out of the team's shootaround, he told them, due to a possible exposure to a team masseuse, who'd returned an inconclusive COVID-19 test.

Several players were questioned about whether they'd seen her that morning, but only Simmons said that he had.

"He answered the question honestly, without thinking of the implications," says one source close to Simmons.

But according to multiple sources, many within the team questioned whether Simmons had actually seen the masseuse -- or was just trying to get out of playing as he battled the basketball version of the yips.

The dude's entire career has been the yips.  He doesn't shoot threes during games, but videos of him draining threes during off-season workouts give Sixers fans false hope every year.

Philly needs to trade him for anything they can get.  I'm talking about anything.  Trading him for a bag of basketballs would be better than having him on their roster at this point.