The Philadelphia 76ers could be reaching the finish line when it comes to the Ben Simmons saga. The star guard has been in a holdout to begin the 2021-22 season as he has missed all of training camp and he has missed two preseason games thus far while getting set to miss a third game on Monday.
As the Sixers move forward, there is hope that a resolution could be coming soon. Philadelphia and Simmons’ representation over at Klutch Sports are working around the clock in order to get him back with the team as they continue to try and find a trade.
Coach Doc Rivers and the Sixers have maintained that they would like Simmons to return to the team and with the latest news, that has not changed at all. They want to have their star guard back with the team moving forward.
“We’ve said from day 1 what we wanted that we would love to get him back,” said Rivers. “Other than that, there is nothing to report. Our position hasn’t changed at all.”
Simmons is represented specifically by Rich Paul over at Klutch and Rivers has maintained that he and Paul have had good conversations. He won’t reveal what they have discussed, and rightfully so, but the idea is to get him back with the team and playing again in order to get things moving again.
“I’m not gonna talk about what Rich and I have talked about, but clearly that’s what we want,” Rivers stated succinctly. “We wouldn’t be talking if that wasn’t part of it, but I’m not gonna tell you exactly what we’ve been talking about.”
After all of that, the next concern is whether Simmons and his teammates will be able to co-exist again. There have been rumblings of him and Joel Embiid not on the same page anymore, but that is another concern that Rivers does not care for.
“Players don’t get involved with people’s business. That is the one thing that I think is probably overplayed more than anything. I’ve been a player when this has happened before and I was a player that has done it before and other than that first 10 minutes of welcoming back and taking the crap from your teammates about missing camp and stuff, guys wanna win.”
Finally, another concern is whether Simmons will be 100% back in mentally with the team. Will he want to be able to get back with his teammates? Will he want to really throw on a Sixers uniform again? Or will he just tell the team he is injured and not want to compete with the team?
“No, I’m not. I’m not, honestly. We’ve been around this before, haven’t we?” asked Rivers. “We really have in different ways. My guess is when, if he comes, I think he’ll be ready to play.”
Will Simmons be ready to go for opening night on Oct. 20 if he does show up?
“I don’t know,” Rivers finished. “I haven’t seen him. My guess would be yes, but I can’t guarantee that. I don’t know that yet.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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