The Joel Embiid-Ben Simmons duo went through a dramatic split when the Australian point guard decided didn’t want to stay being a Philadelphia 76er and refused to meet teammates and people from the organization after his collapse against the Atlanta Hawks last year.
Embiid and Simmons were expected to lead this franchise to championships, but the situation got worse for the point guard every season, ultimately ending in his departure from the team. Now Simmons is a part of the Brooklyn Nets, while James Harden is the newest member of the Sixers.
It’s been only a month since this blockbuster trade was completed, but many people keep talking about it. Joel Embiid recently expressed his true feelings on that, revealing that he still believed he could have created something big with Simmons in Philly. Talking with Draymond Green on his podcast, the Cameroonian big man had this to say (1:25):
“I always believed that we had a chance to win together. Like I always believe it. Even to this day, I believe that we had a chance to win,” said Embiid.
“I feel like we had a chance, and that’s why I don’t understand what was going on. What caused him to wanna leave? I understand his explanation, but a lot of things don’t make sense,” he added.
Ben and Joel had big expectations around them. A lot of people thought they could make a big noise in Philly, but Simmons didn’t really show big progress. Instead, every season he seemed to regress in his game. Sixers fans hope to conquer the championship with Embiid and Harden, while the Nets have no interest in making Simmons a shooter in order to win the title.
Embiid knows they missed a big opportunity and wants to make the most out of this new partnership. He’s meshing perfectly with James Harden and the fans hope to see this tandem going off in the postseason.
