The bizarre saga involving veteran NBA scribe Bill Simmons and Jalen Green, which led to a sarcastic shoutout by the Rockets star after he was named to the All-Rookie First Team, seems to be coming to an end.
On Tuesday morning, Simmons released a new podcast episode featuring a guest interview with Green. While most of the discussion was about basketball, they did briefly discuss the events of recent weeks.
“When I saw it, I was like, ‘Damn, I don’t know him. What did I do to him?’ I don’t know where this is coming from,” Green told Simmons, an NBA awards voter who did not vote Green to the first team. Simmons’ initial explanation included a profane remark directed at Green.
“But, everybody’s going to talk,” Green said. “I’m used to it, seeing things like that, people talking in general. I never took it too personal. I started making a joke out of it on Twitter. Laughed about it. It’s all good.”
Simmons insisted that his original remark was made in jest.
“F–k Jalen Green,” Simmons said on April 13. “I don’t care you’re scoring 40 points and your team’s 19-60. Congratulations. Herb Jones is like guarding dudes in real games. Now, the Houston people are going to be mad at me. I’m sorry. I like winning players, I’m sorry. Jalen Green will get there, it’s just that team was 21-61 this year or whatever.”
Simmons’ remarks were widely criticized in the coming weeks, including by Golden State’s Draymond Green and Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid.
While Simmons did not directly apologize to Green in Tuesday’s podcast, his rhetoric and tone were much more positive than in recent weeks. As a result, Green sounds satisfied with putting this controversy in the past.
“I’m glad we got to get on and talk about that,” Green concluded.
Congrats! I’m still rooting for you, don’t let the fake news aggregators ruin it for us. I just liked 2022 Herb Jones more for first-team which was the whole point of the joke. Excited to see what you have in store for your 2nd year, good luck.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 19, 2022
