Ben Simmons’ journey with the Philadelphia 76ers is about to end. He is already ready to sit out the training camp, which added further fuel to the rumors about him leaving the team.
Additionally, several teams have been in constant contact with the Sixers to get Simmons. But recent reports suggest the real reason why Ben wants out is apparently because the franchise had to choose between him and Joel Embiid.
Embiid is the MVP candidate, so it would make sense to choose him over Ben. The team’s intentions were earlier made clear when they handed Embiid a humongous contract extension.
Well after the news broke out that the 76ers chose Embiid over Simmons, Embiid himself tweeted about the situation. His tweet revealed that the relationship between him and Simmons is still strong and he would love to have him back on the team.
But after some time, Embiid posted another tweet about how he dealt with being booed by Philly fans. Simmons received this treatment after his abysmal performances in the last season’s postseason. While Jay Williams called out Embiid for throwing Simmons under the bus, Kendrick Perkins believes, Embiid is right and it was Ben who was in the wrong.
“Ben Simmons lacks mental toughness. If Joel Embiid could tweet out and say, ‘Hey I was booed and I battled through it and I went out there and gave people 35-40 points and those boos turned into cheers,’ he’s telling Ben Simmons, hey prove the people wrong. Ben Simmons played bad last year.
“… Ben Simmons was the one that was lacking confidence. It wasn’t Doc Rivers. It wasn’t Joel Embiid. It wasn’t Tobias Harris. It wasn’t Daryl Morey. It wasn’t Elton Brand. It was Ben Simmons. So with that being said, you get paid the big bucks to deliver on the big stage and you didn’t do that.”
The fact is that Ben Simmons lack MENTAL TOUGHNESS… he needs to learn how to turn those BOOS into CHEERS and that comes from working hard and getting better in the off season. Joel Embiid did it! Carry the hell on… pic.twitter.com/TBfsPxnspn
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) September 2, 2021
Whatever be the case, as of now it’s quite obvious that Simmons won’t return to Philly. By any luck, if he does, there might be a bit too much tension in the locker room with other players that would probably make it impossible to play together.
