The TNT crew is headlined by two NBA legends in Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley as the two of them will give their takes on the happenings around the NBA. They are two guys who have a lot of hot takes that can rub some the wrong way.

The Philadelphia 76ers have been a team they have focused on often due to the team’s star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. Obviously, Simmons has not played in the 2021-22 season as he goes through the process of trying to get traded after a tumultuous offseason and a poor playoff performance.

Shaq recently took a shot at Simmons for his antic, but as Embiid was named an All-Star starter for the fifth consecutive season, he took another one at Simmons while praising Embiid:

The difference between him and his soft partner is he can take criticism without being a crybaby and he still wants to play. Me and Charles have been on him. We stay on him. We tell him to his face what he needs to do. He didn’t cry. He didn’t say ‘I want to be traded’, he didn’t complain about mistreatment, and that’s the difference. That’s why I like him and respect him. The other guy, I don’t respect and I’ve been thinking about it, he’s missing the whole season because they asked your coach a question can we win with you and your coach gave a funny answer to tell you in the summertime you need to work on your game. You don’t think I haven’t been criticized by you guys and Stephen A.? You don’t think I’ve ever been criticized by LA media, New York media, great players get criticized, but the great players also step up the criticism and perform. This other guy, I don’t respect him. I would get rid of him.

So Shaq had some things to say about Ben Simmons. pic.twitter.com/JLVAulV35T

— Brock Landes (@LandesBrock) January 28, 2022

Embiid has been criticized by Shaq and Barkley in the past and he actually did agree with it and said he needs to be better. So it is fair for Shaq to say what he said. Simmons is still a terrific player, but it remains to be seen if he will step up to the challenge and fix his flaws when he moves on to his next team.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!