Joel Embiid finally had enough of Ben Simmons’ antics and threw shade at his Philadelphia 76ers teammate. Following a tumultuous exit in the second round of the 2021 NBA playoff, Simmons received a lot of criticism over his shooting struggles, which damaged the relationship between the player and the franchise.
Several months after that moment, the Australian doesn’t want to return to the team, demanding a trade and making it clear he won’t attend training camp. Hell, Simmons even refused to meet teammates in Los Angeles, as he won’t change his mind on wanting to leave the Sixers.
Embiid apparently got tired of this attitude and threw shade at Simmons, unofficially saying the relationship is over.
“Our teams have always been built around his needs. So it’s just kind of surprising to see. Even going back to, the reason we signed Al, we got rid of Jimmy, which I still think was a mistake, just to make sure he needed the ball in his hands.”
These remarks made a lot of noise around the league, and former player-turned-analyst Kendrick Perkins reacted to them, saying that this message meant Embiid is done with Simmons (4:40).
“It’s more so about Embiid,” Perkins said on The Jump. “For the Sixers it’s about making sure Embiid is happy. He just finalised to the world today this marriage is over. Divorce papers have been served,
“Now Embiid has said: “cool, we’ll move on if you if you don’t want to play with us, we are not going to bend”.
“He’s not hiding he’s coming out and saying how he feels. He’s not just speaking up for himself but he’s speaking up for the majority of the guys in that locker room.”
The Sixers tried to make amends with Simmons, but their efforts weren’t enough. The player was heavily criticized after a poor performance against the Atlanta Hawks last playoff.
Now, his future will be outside Philly, but it remains unclear where he’ll play next season. The only certainty now is that Embiid is on the same page as Simmons, making it clear he’s done with the Aussie.
