The petty Internet war about the 2017-18 NBA Rookie of the Year has spilled over to actual NBA players. This year’s race between Philadelphia 76ers ball-handler Ben Simmons and Utah Jazz point guard Donovan Mitchell has folks yelling at each other.
Now, Simmons and Mitchell are going at it.
Simmons said recently that he was the top choice for the award and that no other rookies had caught his eye. Whether that’s legitimate is, of course, up for debate.
On Tuesday, Mitchell showed up to his home arena wearing a hoodie that looked to be making a dig at Simmons’ rookie status. Here’s what it said on the front:
Did you catch the issue, there? Mitchell’s hoodie is actually in favor of classifying Simmons as a rookie, not against it. Simmons did not play any minutes the year after he was drafted.
Via Twitter:
Arrival 🙃 pic.twitter.com/RHkCNV9pmc
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 10, 2018
Here’s @BenSimmons25 assessing Mitchell after the game. Closed strong: “I’m not going to wear a sweatshirt tomorrow though.” pic.twitter.com/3vF4JFJOOR
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) April 11, 2018
Oops.
Simmons is the rookie of the year by the way, and it’s not really close. The Sixers rookie’s advanced analytics are better than Mitchell’s, and with the way Philly has been playing with Embiid out it kind of guts the one thing -- value -- the Jazz rookie held over his rival.
