76ers Fine "not mentally prepared" Simmons: More NBA CBA Fun

Time for another r/nba ass post! Some folks found the last post about the CBA and the Ben Simmons situation interesting, and there has been new news, so I figured I would do another one. I want to go through how I was wrong on an important specific in the last post, how prior news fits into that error, the new stuff, and how I think it'll proceed. It's long. Not sorry.

First, reports indicate that Simmons is seeing non-physician/ psychiatrist (edit for typo) for his mental health issues. As I noted on the corrections on the last post, I incorrectly interpreted the significance of Paragraph 7(H) of the NBA's Uniform Player Contract. Essentially, that section states that if a player is seeing a physician / psychiatrist, then they've got to tell the team and provide any requested information to the team. But the CBA does not require a player to provide that information when the mental health care being provided is through a non-physician mental health care professional, which covers a lot of ground. Shock - that is exactly what Simmons is doing. I am surprised that he hasn't been - if they're adequately laying the groundwork for arbitration, high-profiles litigants with large amounts at stake usually engage in the Certification War of Testifying Professionals (i.e. getting uber-MD/PhD's with ludicrous credentials to tell the arbitrator what's what). All reports indicate they aren't, which I think is dumb, but I was wrong. You get what you pay for people.

Anyway, I do not think that changed my more general point, which was that "Team officials have been supportive and have wanted to receive feedback from Simmons on his process" was a warning. Players do not get to declare themselves unfit to play, then hide why, even if it is due to a mental health issue, and the 76ers aren't going to take that for long. So onto the new news and, sure enough, 76ers are mad.

Woj, breaking the trend and regurgitating 76ers press releases instead of Simmons', reported the following:

The Philadelphia 76ers fined All-Star guard Ben Simmons his $360,000 game salary for missing Thursday night's victory over the Detroit Pistons and plan to continue fining him until he cooperates with team physicians on his mental health and fulfills other basketball-related obligations, sources told ESPN on Friday.

Back to being fined for not playing basketball. The key part of the article is are the following:

Sixers officials believe that they have been supportive of Simmons' stated need for mental health assistance and that they are left no choice but for these actions in response to the three-time All-Star's refusal to provide basic details of his course of mental health meetings, evaluation or treatments or to accept consultation with any specialists arranged by the team, sources said. Simmons has worked with mental health professionals via the National Basketball Players Association.

This is in reference to two requirements, first - Paragraph 7(d):

The Player agrees to provide to the Team’s coach, trainer, or physician prompt notice of any injury, illness, or medical condition suffered by him that is likely to affect adversely the Player’s ability to render the services required under this Contract, including the time, place, cause, and nature of such injury, illness, or condition.

And Paragraph 7(e):

Should the Player suffer an injury, illness, or medical condition, he will submit himself to a medical examination, appropriate medical treatment by a physician designated by the Team, and such rehabilitation activities as such physician may specify. Such examination when made at the request of the Team shall be at its expense, unless made necessary by some act or conduct of the Player contrary to the terms of this Contract.

Sure enough, all the key words in the Woj article are there: no basic details (i.e. 7d's notice) and won't see team physicians about it (7e). That he is refusing to allow the team physician to see him is a big deal, since Paragraph 7(c) states that is how the team determines whether a player's injury qualifies as one that allows the player to keep getting paid.

A couple of fun (...) points:

• This sucks if he has a genuine mental health disability. You know what doesn't help folks resolve their anxiety? Being sent to a team doctor you don't want to see, who may be working against your interests, to talk about your problems, which - one way or another - probably won't be private. "Well, I think I may be a choker and will always be a choker and want to cry every time I'm up there taking a free throw, knowing I'll let everyone down." *doctor writes furiously* = sucks for everyone.
• The significance of contract violations is not trivial in cases where an arbitrator has to make a credibility finding on such a touchy issue. Failure to provide timely notification, but instead providing it when it conveniently coincides with your litigation strategy, looks bad. Further, if he is relying on mental health professionals to support his diagnosis, it will be discoverable if the case goes to arbitration. Using 7(H)'s language as a cute way to avoid keeping the team involved is not a great plan if you want to come across as genuinely working with the team who is paying you millions of dollars to not do your job.
• Lastly, the definition of disability here is very interesting to me. The recurring phrase in the contract is "disability or unfitness to play skilled basketball." Does anyone think that, gun to his head, Ben Simmons couldn't play basketball at a skill level that would qualify as an NBA player? Who knows! BS's camp keeps saying he's not "mentally prepared" through the press which... isn't much and I don't know why they keep saying that. I'm not mentally prepared to start most days of work. But I'm not under his spotlight being savaged on every error by millions of people. I've spent way too long looking at this damn contract and can't find much else there, and I can't find any publicly available arbitration decisions.

Anyway, long enough. My guess is that we'll get another ESPN / Athletic press release where Simmons' camp says: (1) he is working with professionals that he believes will support his continued recovery; (2) that they are disappointed the 76ers are insisting on the type of care he receives; (3) mental health disabilities are real, and require an approach that does not involve being interrogated by antagonistic team professionals. What a trashfire. I could be totally wrong about this, so tell me if you think so, because I find this stuff fun.