NBA Rookie of the Year voting is over and, while both Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell continue to perform at a high level during the 2018 NBA Playoffs, the debate concerning which first-year player should be the winner simply won’t go away. In the midst of the back-and-forth, one storyline has received a lot of attention, with Mitchell not-so-subtly hinting that Simmons, who was part of the 2016 draft class and missed his first season with injury, shouldn’t be considered a rookie at all.
Supporters of Mitchell’s candidacy have adopted this position as part of their argument and, during Monday’s Game 1 between the Sixers and Celtics, fans in Boston decided to express their viewpoint against Simmons and, by proxy, in favor of Mitchell. Or maybe they just think Jayson Tatum should finish in second in Rookie of the Year voting or something.
Celtics fans hitting Ben Simmons with a chant that'll make Donovan Mitchell smile… https://t.co/ajZAbAWjSo
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) May 1, 2018
Shortly thereafter, Mitchell seemingly supported the actions of the Celtics faithful by hopping on Twitter and sharing the following.
😂😂😂😂
— Donovan Mitchell (@spidadmitchell) May 1, 2018
Then, he commented on the video, making his originally veiled Twitter post quite clear.
Donovan…👀🍿 pic.twitter.com/sL76y4l3bm
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 1, 2018
Mitchell’s thoughts are well-documented at this point but he also seems to be going out of his way to reinforce them whenever possible. Because every vote has already been cast, there is a bit of an unusual nature to the beef but, given the way the NBA can become a soap opera, it is also perfectly on-brand for the current landscape of the league.
It seems possible that Simmons will be asked, yet again, about this confluence of events and, if he answers candidly, the wheels will spin once more.
