The Ben Simmons era ended in an ugly fashion for the Philadelphia 76ers. The All-Star guard forced his way out from the organization following a tumultuous summer in 2021. He had a difficult time after the team’s second-round playoff series loss to the Atlanta Hawks that year, and it really affected him mentally.
He was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in February of 2022 after months of speculation whether he would return to Philadelphia and play considering the Sixers were taking their time finding a trade for him.
Now that Simmons is in Brooklyn, he is beginning to speak of his time in Philadelphia. He was asked about his relationship with Joel Embiid by ESPN’s Nick Friedell:
I don’t talk to Jo. We never really spoke.
I don’t think there was really a relationship there. Like in terms of a friendship? You can try as hard as you want to try to be close to somebody, be their friend, whatever it is, but everyone is different as people, so for me, it’s never personal. I don’t have any anger or hate towards him. He is who he is, and I am who I am. And we’ve got our personal lives. And work is basketball, so in that moment, my goal is to win, and I got to win with Jo. He’s a great player; we just didn’t get it done.
It is interesting to see that the relationship everybody thought Simmons and Embiid had doesn’t seem to be the case. Now that Simmons is with the Nets now and the two sides can move on, the focus should be just that: moving on.
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