Kendrick Perkins, who played for Doc Rivers in Boston for eight seasons, says Rivers "set up" Ben Simmons at yesterday's 76ers practice.
"Doc Rivers walked into today ready for the action. And it started from yesterday. If people think Doc Rivers didn't realize what Ben Simmons was doing yesterday, having a cell phone in his pocket, being lazy, just going through the motions when they had him on the floor, people are crazy," Perkins said Tuesday on ESPN. "I know Doc, and he set him up. He walked in and he saw that Ben wasn't engaged and so he called him in to get into a drill and Ben declined. He called him again to get into a drill and Doc was ready to throw him out. He lucky Doc Rivers didn't put that paws on him because I saw him almost put his hands on [Rajon] Rondo one time."
Perkins was asked to clarify what he meant by "set up."
"Well what I'm saying is, [Rivers] walked into practice saying, 'You know what, let me see what [Simmons'] body language is like today.' Because he let it ride yesterday and so today he just wasn't having it."
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Simmons was kicked out of practice on Tuesday and suspended for the Sixers' season opener tonight. He was scheduled to address the media on Tuesday after practice, but because of the incident that did not happen.
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Joel Embiid, after practice, was critical of Simmons saying that it is not his job to "babysit" and admitted that he has not spoken to Simmons since he returned to the team last week after months of requesting a trade.