I completely get a sports agency wanting to promote its roster of athletes when it comes to voting for an All-Star game. I really do. In fact, I'd find it strange if a sports agency didn't do that and just left their clients out their to fend for votes themselves. That's kind of the point of sports agency representation in part, no?
But with all that out of the way, I can't help but say that I respectfully disagree with one decision that Klutch Sports Group made on Christmas day — or a lack of awareness regarding tweets they might have scheduled for what was then a future date.
Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards, Dejounte Murray, Draymond Green and others were among the featured athletes to receive individual tweets from the agency promoting their All-Star candidacy, and for good reason. Then, there were athletes that seemed like kind of strange choices, including Pistons guard Cory Joseph and Thunder forward Darius Bazley. And then, there was the tweet that drew by far the most attention, with thousands of likes and retweets pouring in... but not necessarily because people wanted to vote for the player in question.
Oh yeah. They went there.
In case you haven't heard, Simmons hasn't played all season and has been in the headlines dating back to his poor playoff performance and infamous non-dunk against the Atlanta Hawks that completely changed his trajectory with the Philadelphia 76ers and in the NBA as a whole. Is he an All-Star-caliber player? Sure, given that he's a three-time participant in the festivities in his four-year career. But when you quite literally don't play and have been fined huge sums of money because you aren't cooperating with the team with which you're under contract, things get a little complicated.
Players who weren't mentioned in Klutch's Christmas Day All-Star voting tweets? Zach LaVine and Tyrese Maxey were two that came to mind, with the latter effectively replacing Simmons in Philly and becoming a rising star in his own right.
And how did the NBA community respond to Klutch's promotion of Simmons for an All-Star nod? Probably about how you'd expect:
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