Once again, Ben Simmons is all over the news, and not exactly because of his great play.
The Philadelphia 76ers star reportedly told his teammates not to visit him in Los Angeles in an attempt to make amends with the organization, further cementing his desire to be traded:
“The core leaders on the 76ers — such as Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris and Matisse Thybulle — and most of the team were set to take a jet to see Simmons before being turned away, sources said. Multiple sources said Simmons didn’t want his teammates, some of whom he considers friends, to make the Philadelphia-to-Los Angeles commute out of courtesy because he won’t change his mind on wanting a trade,” reported The Athletic.
Even so, Sixers players still haven’t given up on him and the possibility of fixing things up.
According to Danny Green, it’s something that goes beyond the sports business and they just want to connect with him on a human level:
“This has nothing to do with the organization,” Green said, as quoted by Essentially Sports. “This has to do with us. We just want to meet with him on a personal level, on a human being, friend level. If he still considers us friends, we don’t know if that’s the case yet or not.”
“I know he still communicates with some of the guys,” Green added. “I haven’t been in communication with him. But I would love to meet with him and sit down and talk just to see where his head was at. Let him know that we have his back and we want him back and just give him some friendly advice. Just first and foremost as a human being, as a professional.”
That’s really nice of him to say and Sixers players have tried to handle this situation in the best possible way. But, for now, it doesn’t seem like he has any intention whatsoever of changing his mind.
