Ben Simmons’ teammates have come to his defence after a heckler called the Aussie “trash” after Brooklyn’s loss to Orlando on Saturday (Australian time).
The Nets suffered a second straight loss to start the season, with Simmons adding just seven points, six rebounds and three assists as well as a block in the 116-101 loss to the Magic.
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While the 28-year-old Aussie has copped flak throughout his career, he is on the return from injuries that have restricted him to just 59 games — including just 15 last season — in what is now his third season for the franchise.
It’s expected to be another tough year for the Nets, with the team’s roster considered among the worst in the NBA.
But the scenes after the Magic game may give fans of the franchise some hope after Simmons’ teammates rushed to his defence.
As the team returned to the locker room, a fan yelled out “you’re trash” to Simmons, but only when he was well past the youngster.
Simmons replied: “Why didn’t you say it when I was there p***y?” before seemingly heading to the locker room.
But the situation wasn’t done there as Simmons’ 파워볼 teammate Dennis Schroder came out of the rooms to confront the fan who took aim at the Aussie.
“Who’s talking s**t to Ben?” Schroder said.
With other players still pausing on their way back to the rooms after seeing the fired up Shroder, the 31-year-old began jawing with the heckler, before a man social media claimed was his dad joined the fray.
The situation was ultimately defused by security with other fans filming the events.
One was heard saying: “This is going on ESPN.”
Another fan said: “Way to ruin it for everyone”.
The NetsDaily X account tweeted: “Told by a witness that what p**sed off Schroder and other Nets players was that the fan waited till Simmons was 10 steps beyond him before calling him trash.”