Ben Simmons finally breaks silence on trade request originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
More than 250 days after his last public comments, former Sixers All-Star and new Nets guard Ben Simmons broke his long-standing silence and spoke Tuesday during an introductory press conference with his new team.
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Simmons answered a lot of questions about what went wrong in Philadelphia, where he currently stands in his path back to the court, and more.
Here are some key takeaways:
'It wasn't about the fans'
Simmons was asked what specifically drove his desire to leave Philadelphia and officially place a trade request with the Sixers' front office.
After months of rumors about post-Game 7 comments from Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid, dissolving relationships, etc., here's what Simmons said:
It's very interesting to hear Simmons say he's been dealing with mental health issues dating back to before the 2020-21 regular season. If that's indeed the case -- and we should take Simmons at his word on this one -- then it sheds a lot more light on why the mental health issues popped up on our radar during his extended holdout.
I still wish Simmons could expand on why the "personal thing" necessitated a trade from the Sixers, but at this point we'll probably never know.
Did he and Joel speak?
Simmons' relationship with Joel Embiid during his time with the Sixers was always under the microscope; the two co-stars were sometimes painted as not exactly buddy-buddy even though they both regularly disagreed with the characterization.
But their relationship clearly frayed during Simmons' holdout and extended trade request, with Embiid being brutally honest about his frustrations with Simmons more than once, so Simmons' response to whether he and Embiid talked after the trade (Simmons and Doc Rivers reportedly did) shouldn't be much of a surprise:
Yeah, that friendship/partnership/whatevership is extremely over.
Circle March 10... maybe
The Nets are slated to visit the Wells Fargo Center on March 10. If Simmons does indeed play, or even sits on the bench, it's going to be quite the scene to behold.
Simmons was asked point-blank if he thinks he'll be ready for that game, and he at least left the door open a bit for a possible Chaos Night in South Philly:
"I hope so" isn't "yes" - it leaves a little wiggle room - but it's certainly better than "we'll see" or "I don't know". Those ticket prices are going to skyrocket just in case.
I'd be surprised if Simmons suits up, but we'll just have to wait and see.
Was today's press conference the satisfying resolution Sixers fans everywhere wanted? Of course not. Simmons was never going to give that to them, just the way Carson Wentz wasn't going to give Eagles fans that satisfaction. The exact answers to what went wrong, straight from the source, are particularly rare in these kinds of protracted disputes. You've got to take what you can get and move on.
