Philadelphia 76ers: There will be no winners in the Ben Simmons situation
There will be no winners between the Philadelphia 76ers and Ben Simmons.
NBA training camps open in a week. Yet, the Philadelphia 76ers have so many unanswered questions regarding what their roster will look like this season. Mostly because Ben Simmons doesn’t want to be part of the franchise any longer.
And if that’s going to be the case, Daryl Morey has a lot of work to do to get this roster to championship form sans Simmons. As expected, both sides appear to be sticking to their guns. The Sixers don’t want to trade Simmons unless it’s for a significant player (and then some) and Simmons doesn’t plan on showing up for camp.
So far this offseason, there has been no progress on either side. The Sixers haven’t had any reported substantial trade talks and Simmons has reportedly cut off communication with the franchise.
As training camp nears, nothing is settled between the two sides and there doesn’t appear to be a resolution in sight. Suffice to say, it’s unlikely that there are going to be any winners that emerge from this dispute between the Sixers and Simmons.
The expectation remains, one week out from 76ers media day, that Ben Simmons will choose not to report to the team's training camp, league sources say. But the Sixers, sources say, remain intent on trying to convince Simmons to report.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) September 20, 2021
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It would be extremely unlikely if the Sixers got what they wanted for Simmons or if Simmons actually gets to his preferred landing spot. There appears to be so much bad blood between the two sides, for one reason or another, that this is probably a situation in which everyone loses in the end.
Heading into training camp, Simmons’ absence (if he in fact doesn’t show up) will be a dark cloud over the start of this season and will undoubtedly be a distraction. You can’t really hide the fact that your team’s second-best player is refusing to play for the team.
The dispute could ultimately come down to which side blinks first. And even then, the damage that will already have been done will be greater than either side actually getting what they want in the end.
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I’m not sure exactly how this situation is going to play out for the Sixers and Simmons, but one thing has become clear. The two sides need to come together to agree to some sort of understanding and resolution. If not, this could get ugly and ugly fast. And the potential repercussions might not be worth it all in the end.