The Ben Simmons saga sounds like it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
According to a new report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Simmons turned down his 76ers teammates, who wanted to travel to Los Angeles to meet with the disgruntled star.
Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris, Matisse Thybulle, and other Philly teammates were hoping to convince Simmons to stick with the 2021-22 season amid a flurry of reports that Simmons wants out of Philadelphia. Sources told Charania that Simmons turned down the potential meeting because he’s made up his mind about wanting to be traded.
Simmons is said to be “mentally checked out,” and with training camp looming, it appears as though he’ll likely never play in Sixers uniform again. Simmons has four years and $147 million left on his max contract, and the team has reportedly not seen an offer it deems suitable enough to acquire his talents.
This past week, Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Simmons would not report for training camp and that he “intends to never play another game for the franchise.”
“Simmons hasn’t spoken to team since a late August meeting when he communicated this message to Sixers officials,” a tweet from Wojnarowski read.
Reports began to surface in August that Simmons had cut off all communication with the team and was ignoring Joel Embiid’s phone calls, and that he was only communicating with the organization through his agent Rich Paul. Jason Dumas of KRON4 News reported that Simmons’ relationship with the franchise was “getting worse by the day” and “beyond repair.”
