Ben Simmons has yet to play a game for the Sixers this season, as he’s still upset with Joel Embiid and Doc Rivers for blaming him for their Game 7 loss to the Hawks last year in the playoffs, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reports.
According to sources close to Simmons, he’s upset that Embiid seemed to blame him for last season’s playoff loss, when Simmons did not blame Embiid for Embiid’s poor showing in the playoffs against the Toronto Raptors in 2019. He’s frustrated that Rivers didn’t come to see him while he was training in Los Angeles last summer.
Simmons doesn’t dispute that he didn’t reply when Rivers texted and called him several times over the summer asking to see him. But in hindsight, Simmons feels Rivers and the Sixers could’ve done more, like show up at a well-known gym in the San Fernando Valley where he was training.
Simmons is also skeptical of being moved by the deadline, as it’s well known that they’re trying to pry James Harden away from the Nets this offseason, and Simmons is upset about how he’s being fined despite raising a concern with his mental health.
He’s also skeptical, sources close to him say, of Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey’s willingness to trade him because of his previous pursuit of Harden — who can become a free agent this summer. Simmons would be the best player the Sixers would send in any theoretical trade. And he’s upset that the organization is fining him so heavily after he raised mental health as an issue upon his return.
Rich Paul, Simmons’ agent, had spent weeks in the fall trying to convince the three-time All Star to fly back to Philadelphia, as a show of good faith.
Simmons did not want to go, under any circumstances.
The Sixers have to hope that things go completely wrong in Brooklyn because if the Nets end up winning the championship this season, Harden would likely stay.
