Ben Simmons hasn’t returned to his Rookie of the Year/All-Star level of play since the start of his career, but he’s playing quality defense while showing off his passing skills by averaging 6.5 assists per game for Brooklyn 9- 10 this season. His former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, are off to a terrible 3-14 start to the season.
Don’t confuse that with a “Simmons is coming back to Philadelphia” meeting, but Simmons called Joel Embiid and tried to patch things up. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reports in a fantastic story about the 76ers’ slow start.
He even reached out to Embiid and others last summer, league sources said, in hopes of patching things up. Simmons, who is in the final year of his contract in Brooklyn, has shown how he can still impact a game with his passing, length and defense. But in the second quarter of Friday’s game, he also missed the rim on a layup in a clip that quickly went viral, reminding everyone how his time in Philadelphia went wrong. Could they ever try to solve it together again? One source called it unlikely, but stranger things have happened. Especially with the Sixers.
Stranger things have happened, but in the case of the 76ers they would have to deal with a backlash from fans if they brought back Simmons and that wouldn’t be worth the price. Also, it’s not like these two were ever close, Simmons had previously said there wasn’t much of a relationship between them even when he was in Philadelphia.
Simmons will get a new contract with an NBA team next offseason, but one much closer to the league minimum than the $40 million per season he’s making this year.
And it won’t be in Philadelphia.