A Bill Simmons tweet on Devin Booker.

Players sometimes choose not to participate in international sporting events thanks to injury recovery issues or injury fears, and that sometimes leads to some pretty lame criticisms from sports media members who argue “I’d wear the flag every chance I get!” (Yes, but you’re not an elite athlete.)

One recent example of that comes from The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, who spent this summer bashing NBA players Landry Shamet and Devin Booker for not joining Team USA for the FIBA World Cup (Shamet removed himself from consideration for the final squad after being there for initial practices, Booker declined an invitation thanks to recovery from a season-ending ankle injury), criticized Booker again Tuesday during the USA-Turkey game, and then got upset when Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics (Simmons is a Boston sports fan, in case you haven’t heard) hurt his ankle (although it’s reportedly not serious) 17 minutes later in that game. That led to some internet dunks on Simmons:

And, particularly funnily, it led to this from Booker:

Of course, Tatum’s injury had nothing to do with Simmons’ comments, but it’s notable to see how differently he reacted when a possible injury came to a player on a team he roots for. And he did a lot of unnecessary downplaying of the injury and rest concerns of Booker and Shamet, something noted top-tier athlete and registered medical professional Simmons is obviously an expert on. (That’s never really stopped Simmons from dropping over-the-top pronouncements, though.) Simmons is far from the first media member to make lame comments about athletes who skip international appearances over health concerns, but the way it backfired for him Tuesday was particularly funny.

[Matt Carey on Twitter]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.