Simmons party jibe ‘pile of ...’

THE Philadelphia 76ers have slammed a report as “a steaming pile of trash” that claimed Ben Simmons missed a game because he was out partying and that the team’s general manager contemplated trading him.

The New York Daily News story also alleged coach Brett Brown had lost the 76ers’ locker room and would be sacked if they did not win their firstround playoff series against the Brooklyn Nets.

“This is one of the most irresponsible hack jobs I’ve ever seen in more than a decade of working in sports,” 76ers’ vicepresident of communications Dave Sholler wrote on Twitter. “Factual inaccuracies, madeup stories .... a steaming pile of trash.”

The 76ers are locked 1-1 in the best-of-seven series with Game 3 in Brooklyn today.

The story claimed Simmons sat out of the 76ers’ March 25 21-point loss to the Orlando Magic because he had been partying the previous night in Orlando. The report, citing “a source close to the team”, originally claimed Simmons was partying in Miami with girlfriend Kendall Jenner but the newspaper corrected it to change the location to Orlando. Jenner was in Los Angeles at the time.

The story also alleged 76ers general manager Elton Brand made it known to team ownership they needed to consider trading Simmons because he “was simply not coachable, and was a regular-season player annually exposed in the playoffs”. AUSTRALIAN Andrew Bogut will start at centre for two-time defending NBA champions Golden State Warriors after DeMarcus Cousins tore his quad against the LA Clippers, head coach Steve Kerr says.