Joel Embiid

Part of Ben Simmons' desire to leave the Philadelphia 76ers reportedly has to do with his no longer wanting to play alongside All-Star center Joel Embiid.

According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, Simmons believes his style of play doesn't mesh with Embiid, who is the dominant force for Philadelphia in the paint.

Amick noted that while there is "nothing personal" about Simmons wanting to part ways with Embiid, the point guard "has clearly decided that his career is better off without Embiid blocking the runways in the paint that he so badly needs to succeed."

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported last week that Simmons has no plans to report to Sixers training camp and does not intend to play for the organization ever again.

Subsequently, 76ers head coach Doc Rivers appeared on ESPN's First Take and confirmed that Simmons has asked to be traded, although he expressed hope that the two sides will be able to work things out.

Embiid is also holding out hope for reconciliation between Simmons and the Sixers, telling reporters Monday: "I really hope he changes his mind. I do love playing with him because he adds so much to our team. We've been building this team around us. I don't see it as 'This is my team'. I don't care about any of that."

While Embiid may not view the Sixers as "his team," the numbers suggest that he is the go-to guy and franchise player.

The 7-footer has been named an All-Star in each of the past four seasons, and he is coming off the best season of his career. Embiid averaged 28.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 blocks in 51 games, and he finished as the MVP runner-up behind Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic.

He also performed at a high level during the playoffs, averaging 28.1 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.5 blocks in 11 games.

Despite that, the top-seeded Sixers were ousted by the Atlanta Hawks in the second round, marking yet another disappointing end to a season for a team that has had championship aspirations for the past few years.

Simmons was undoubtedly viewed as the primary scapegoat for Philly's early playoff exit last season, as he averaged only 11.9 points per game and shot 34.2 percent from the free-throw line during the postseason. He also shied away from taking shots late in games during the Atlanta series, instead choosing to defer to Embiid and others.

Despite his issues during the playoffs, the 25-year-old Simmons still brings plenty to the table.

The Aussie is a three-time All-Star and boasts solid career averages of 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.7 assists and 1.7 steals. He is also an elite defender, as evidenced by his second-place finish in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting last season.

In terms of roster makeup, Philadelphia may not be the place for Simmons, as the Sixers already have a dominant post player in Embiid and don't have many great outside shooters.

Simmons has made a grand total of five career three-pointers, which says it all about where he needs to be offensively to be effective.

If Simmons can force a trade to a team that has quality shooting and needs more of an offensive presence in the paint, it could go a long way toward getting him on track.

The Sixers are under no obligation to grant his trade request, though, as Simmons is under contract through the 2024-25 season.

Joel Embiid and other Philadelphia 76ers players discussed a drama-filled offseason and expectations for the upcoming year at Monday's media day.

The biggest topic was unsurprisingly the status of Ben Simmons, who requested a trade earlier this offseason. 

Embiid gave his perspective on Simmons' potential departure:

Other players also touched on the Simmons situation Monday:

Simmons was the subject of numerous trade rumors before asking for a move, but Embiid said that is just part of the NBA:

Embiid also defended fan criticism:

Amid other uncertainty within the organization, it's a positive that Embiid wants to remain in Philadelphia.

Beyond the Simmons drama, the 76ers still have high hopes for this season after finishing with the best record in the Eastern Conference last year. Several players discussed their goals to improve on a personal level:

It could help Philadelphia get over the top toward contention in 2021-22.  

Joel Embiid confirmed he and a few Philadelphia 76ers players reached out to Ben Simmons in an attempt to repair his relationship with the organization but were rebuffed.

"We just got to let him be himself," Embiid told reporters Monday at Sixers media day.

Simmons reportedly requested a trade in August and is not planning to return to the Sixers at this point, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. It's expected that the situation will be protracted, with both coach Doc Rivers and president of basketball operations Daryl Morey saying Monday they want Simmons back in Philadelphia. 

Embiid said he was "disappointed" the situation had deteriorated to this point and he wants Simmons to return to the team.

"I'm just disappointed that he's not here. He knows it, too. He knows we can win together," Embiid said.

The Sixers have made the playoffs the last four seasons but have not gotten past the second round. They were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference in 2020-21 but were eliminated by the Atlanta Hawks in a shocking seven-game series that saw Simmons struggle mentally because of troubles on the offensive end. 

The Sixers attempted to trade Simmons for James Harden during last season and have spent most of the summer trying to move him again, albeit with the latter situation being more of a mutual understanding. Simmons has seemingly tried to take control of his own future by forcing a trade but has little power with four years remaining on his contract.

The only recourse Simmons has is making the situation as ugly as possible in order to force his way out. While he's yet to make any public comments of his own on the matter and the Sixers are in damage-control mode, it's possible the situation only gets worse in the coming weeks. 

While there is still plenty of uncertainty about whether Ben Simmons will ever take the court again for the Philadelphia 76ers, they will reportedly have a healthy Joel Embiid to start the preseason.

According to David Aldridge of The Athletic, the big man is "full go" after rehabbing and resting a knee injury that bothered him during Philadelphia's second-round playoff loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

Embiid will play "a normal preseason load" as a result.

This is surely welcome news for the 76ers, who are dealing with the Simmons situation with the season approaching. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the point guard "will not report for [the] opening of training camp next week and intends to never play another game for the franchise."

That means Embiid will be more important than ever for a team that still has enough talent to compete for an NBA Finals berth out of the Eastern Conference.

Injuries have always been a storyline for the Kansas product. He missed his first two seasons in the league and has never played more than 64 games in a single campaign, but he is one of the league's best players when healthy.

Embiid is a three-time All-NBA selection, three-time All-Defensive honoree and four-time All-Star who averaged 28.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 blocks and 1.0 steals per game last season as an MVP candidate.

Philadelphia may need similar numbers from him again to compete with the likes of the Milwaukee Bucks, Brooklyn Nets and others in the Eastern Conference, so the fact he is healthy at this point is an important development.

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid pushed aside rumors that lingering issues with Ben Simmons led the point guard to request a trade from the Sixers.

Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday that Simmons met with the 76ers front office to inform them he no longer wanted to remain with the team. Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today added a "rift had been escalating" between the Sixers' stars, which was a factor in the situation.

Embiid responded to the claim Wednesday on Twitter:

He later expanded on his thoughts about the speculation and fan criticism:

The Sixers made the playoffs each of the four seasons Embiid and Simmons have played together, but they've been unable to reach championship-level expectations. They haven't advanced beyond the second round of the postseason in any of those trips.

Rumors emerged about Philadelphia potentially shaking up its core after it was eliminated by the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals in June.

Simmons, who passed up a wide-open layup late in Game 7 of that series, drew criticism in the aftermath of the season-ending defeat.

"I mean, I'll be honest," Embiid told reporters. "I thought the turning point was when we—I don't know how to say it—but I thought the turning point was just we had an open shot and we made one free throw and we missed the other and then they came down and scored."

Sixers head coach Doc Rivers was asked after that game whether he believed Simmons could be the point guard on a title-winning team.

"I don't know the answer to that," Rivers responded.

Yet, the hallmark points of the NBA offseason—free agency and the draft—came and went without a blockbuster deal involving Simmons, which made it appear the 76ers were planning to stick with the Embiid-Simmons tandem for at least another year.

Now it sounds like the 25-year-old Australian guard may be pushing for a trade before the 2021-22 regular season tips off in late October.

Embiid didn't provide context for his comment that "stats don't lie," but it's worth noting the Sixers have the NBA's third-best winning percentage (.631) during the regular season over the past four years behind only the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks (.667) and 2019 champion Toronto Raptors (.640), per StatMuse.

So Philadelphia has been putting itself in contention but hasn't been able to overcome the playoff hurdles necessary to win a title, which flips the narrative about the Embiid-Simmons partnership.

A source told Pompey that Simmons would prefer a trade to one of "three California teams." That probably refers to the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers or Los Angeles Lakers. The Sacramento Kings are the other option that fits the description.

It's unclear whether there's enough time left in the offseason to make such a marquee deal, considering most teams having already wrapped up the significant portions of their roster-building processes, though.

For his part, Embiid made it clear he's not trying to push Simmons out the door and would welcome the chance to push for a championship with his three-time All-Star running mate.

The reported rift between Philadelphia 76ers stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons had been escalating prior to the team's surprising second-round playoff series loss to the Atlanta Hawks, per Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today:

But the issue was deeper than one play, one game, one series. The Simmons-Embiid rift had been escalating, a person with knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports. The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the situation.

Simmons' 76ers days appear to be over as daily trade rumors swirl around the three-time All-Star. Of note, Simmons has reportedly told the 76ers that he does not wish to return to the team, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Simmons struggled in the Hawks series, averaging just 9.9 points per game and shooting 33.3 percent from the free-throw line.

Over the series' last three games, Simmons shot the ball just 14 times, scoring 19 points. He notably passed up a wide-open dunk in the fourth quarter of Game 7, leading Embiid to utter these remarks postgame, per Zillgitt.

"I thought the turning points was when we—I don’t know how to say it—is when we had an open shot and made one free throw," Embiid said.

Jason Dumas of Bleacher Report also dropped this news in early August:

Embiid and Simmons helped guide the 76ers in each of their four seasons together, reaching the Eastern Conference Semifinals three times. The 76ers finished this regular season with the No. 1 seed for the first time in 20 years, when they last won the Eastern Conference.

However, the campaign ended in disappointment, and the Embiid-Simmons era may have ended along with it. Now Simmons will likely head elsewhere while Embiid continues to patrol the paint in Philadelphia.

As the Ben Simmons saga rolls on, the Minnesota Timberwolves remain consistently linked with the wantaway power forward.

The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski reported Tuesday: "In conversations with teams in Las Vegas, I came away with the impression that the Timberwolves were the team that was most active in talks to try to make a Simmons deal happen."

That followed a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey earlier in the day that Simmons told the Sixers he would like to be traded and did not plan to report to training camp if he wasn't moved before that time.

No surprises there—reports all summer have suggested the Sixers were shopping Simmons. Those reports have also echoed the familiar theme that Philly wants a major haul in return.

"(The 76ers) want an All-Star-caliber player in return," a league source told The Athletic's Shams Charania in July.

And The Athletic's David Aldridge reported in early August: "At minimum, the Sixers are seeking control of at least four future first-round picks via direct trade or pick swaps, along with an All-Star-level player in most (but not all) scenarios."

The Wolves could dispense of the future picks. But the All-Star-level player is tougher to envision. Krawczynski reported that the Wolves wouldn't part with Karl-Anthony Towns (who would be a bizarre fit with Joel Embiid in the parallel universe where Minnesota was willing to trade him) and that young star-in-the-making Anthony Edwards is "untouchable."

As for D'Angelo Russell, it's fair to question if he would move the needle for a Philly team looking to add a star next to Embiid. He'd be an upgrade offensively, no doubt, but is a major liability on the defensive end. Plus, Krawczynski noted the Wolves "have talked all summer about building a team with Towns, Edwards and Russell around Simmons."

From that perspective, then, are the Wolves going to offer the Sixers Malik Beasley, Taurean Prince, Jaden McDaniels and a series of future first-rounders and pick swaps? Even with the threat of Simmons not reporting to training camp and creating a media frenzy, it's hard to imagine Sixers president Daryl Morey being swayed by such a deal.

Even a deal sending Russell, Beasley and picks to Philly for Simmons, Furkan Korkmaz and Shake Milton would likely be met with turned-up noses from the Sixers front office.

It isn't hard to see why Minnesota covets Simmons. He'd instantly be the team's best defender, he remains an unstoppable force in transition, and Towns' perimeter game would pair nicely with Simmons' unwillingness and inability to stretch the floor in the slightest.

Granted, the move would make slightly less sense without a pick-and-roll point guard like Russell in Minnesota to run the half-court offense. In crunch time, Simmons essentially disappears from the half-court offense. He's proved time and time again in the postseason that he can't be a team's primary point guard.

But the Wolves don't appear to have the assets in place to complete such a deal unless Philly is willing to take a mountain of future picks in the hopes of flipping them for a star down the line. Time will tell. But the Wolves have been regularly linked to Simmons enough this summer to suggest that they'll be in the mix in any and all trade talks.