The Philadelphia 76ers have put to work to try to fix their relationship with Ben Simmons and that he remains, at least temporarily, in the team. As soon as the information that suggests that the Australian does not want to wear the Pennsylvania jersey again comes to light, several heavyweights of the organization have stepped forward to repair the situation. Specifically, those who attacked the player just after the 76ers eliminated the Atlanta Hawks in the Conference Semifinals.
With the ball in the court of the franchise, Doc Rivers recently shared his desire to continue counting on Simmons and assured that they will do everything possible to achieve it. Now, it is Joel Embiid who has held the hand of the one who is still his teammate.
According to journalist Kyle Neubeck of the medium Philly Voice, the Cameroonian interior has privately insisted to the team that they can still prevent Simmons from leaving if they can get him to join training camp surrounded by his teammates. Along these lines, Rivers assured that it is not a locker room problem and that incorporating Simmons with the rest of the team would help repair this scenario.
However, the big problem that the 76ers are currently facing is precisely that. The point-forward has reiterated its decision not to appear at the training camp. In fact, several outlets point out that Simmons has not contacted the franchise again since that meeting held at the end of August in which he requested to be transferred.
Since then, Simmons’ value has plummeted, pushing him to Philly to embrace this position to try to reincorporate their star and, thus, make their cache in the NBA resemble as much as possible that of the levels prior to this crisis.
(Photo courtesy of Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)