The Philadelphia 76ers have had a lot of media attention directed towards them ahead of the 2021-22 season due to the Ben Simmons trade saga. There’s no doubt that Simmons requesting a trade has drawn a lot of eyes on the team, and it’s clearly a hot topic among NBA fans.
Ben Simmons has recently returned to the Philadelphia 76ers though, and he has attended his first practice with the team. Of course, after Ben Simmons’ previous decision to stay away from the team, some natural questions arose about how the Sixers players took his return. Tobias Harris revealed that the goal is “to win basketball games” and joked that the players “are all grown men”, rather than middle schoolers who can’t be professional.
Tobias Harris was asked if the vibe at practice today was awkward. He smiled and facetiously said, "No, it was perfectly fine."
And then he expanded on the Sixers' mindset with Ben Simmons returning. pic.twitter.com/SZcdSMP2si
— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) October 17, 2021
We got an opening to our season coming up. Truth be told, that’s honestly where our focus is. We’re grown men here. This is not middle school, seventh grade, eighth grade, ‘Oh, you did this to me, you did this!’ Nah, as soon as we step on that floor, it’s just basketball and honestly thať’s the way it should be. We’re here for one thing, that’s to be the best team we can be and compete, get better as a group. So all the energy and this or that, the vibe was what it was. Was it perfect? No. But we’re here to do a job and that’s to win basketball games. So, put our big boy pants on the floor and we get on the floor and do what we do.
It remains to be seen whether Ben Simmons will remain with the team for a long term, or whether he simply returned to build up his value for a potential trade and to stop the 76ers from fining him for missing games.
Ben Simmons is still a good player, and NBA insider Jake Fischer has previously revealed that 10 teams are currently in the talks with the Philadelphia 76ers about a Ben Simmons trade. Hopefully, there’s a resolution to this situation soon, and perhaps we’ll see Ben Simmons get his wish and get traded to another franchise.
