Just when it briefly appeared that Ben Simmons and the 76ers could reach a resolution, the entire situation went off the rails.
After initially going rogue on the Sixers and demanding a trade this offseason, Simmons finally reported to the team over the weekend and participated in his first practice on Sunday. But as the practice sessions continued, it became clear that Simmons was only physically with the team to prevent costly fines. He still didn’t want to be there — playing with a phone in his pocket made that obvious.
Come Tuesday, Simmons was booted out of practice and suspended for conduct detrimental to the team by head coach Doc Rivers. And Joel Embiid wasn’t exactly rushing to Simmons’ defense.
In Tuesday’s media session, Embiid sounded off on Simmons and said he didn’t care about him anymore.
"At this point I don't care about that man, honestly. He does whatever he wants."
–Joel Embiid on Ben Simmons pic.twitter.com/XELROkUphX
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 19, 2021
Embiid said:
“At this point, I don’t care about that man, honestly. He does whatever he wants. That’s not my job. That’s those guys’ job. I’m only focused on trying to make the team better, win some games, play hard every night, try to lead the guys that we have here. And I’m sure they feel the same way because our chemistry has been excellent despite everything that’s been happening with the last few months. So, yeah, like I said, I don’t really care.”
He added that he wasn’t there to “babysit” Simmons either.
"Our job is not to babysit somebody."
Joel Embiid was honest about how he feels about the Ben Simmons situation.
(via @NBCSPhilly)pic.twitter.com/vBqCk9uojU
— Yahoo Sports NBA (@YahooSportsNBA) October 19, 2021
According to Embiid, he hadn’t spoken with Simmons despite him being with the team for three days. That’s not a great sign and only puts more pressure on the Sixers to trade Simmons. They need to bring this mess to an end.
