We’ve all heard about the standoff between Ben Simmons and the 76ers’ front office. Latest reports suggest this will get elevated even further.
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There have been few All-Stars with such a dip in performance as Simmons has exhibited over the last 3 playoffs. The Australian-born 25-year-old went from dueling LeBron James as a rookie and winning to taking just 3 shots over the 4th quarters of his last playoff series.
Simmons’ decline wasn’t exactly unforeseen or unpredictable, given how Brad Stevens set the blueprint to guard him in 2018. It was still a jarring sight to see a no. 1 overall pick beating his man but passing an open dunk up.
If there were any doubts regarding whether he’d be on their trade block, Doc Rivers allayed them all. His blunt answer regarding Ben’s prospects of becoming a championship-caliber guard can be traced as the origin of this content.
The Sixers’ front office, however, has refused to trade Benny 1-point for pennies on the dollar. Daryl Morey fielded several outrageous trade deals to the Warriors’ and Kings’ front offices and was repeatedly shot down, according to various reports.
As a result, Ben Simmons and the Klutch camp are now piling the pressure on Morey to engineer a trade. Rich Paul maintains that it isn’t his client’s duty to increase his trade value in any ensuing trade talks.
They’ve threatened to withhold Ben Simmons from attending the Sixers’ training camp for 2021-22. That was the statement issued by Klutch at the start of September, and it seems they’re holding steady to that stand.
Ben Simmons will definitely be imposed with steep fines if he doesn’t show up for Sixers’ training camp
Tom Moore, a columnist for USA Today, reported yesterday that Daryl Morey is refusing to bat an eyelid. According to Moore, the Sixers will impose the harshest financial penalty that they possibly can on Simmons if he doesn’t show up for camp.
Moore also notes that Morey has contemplated the idea of trading Ben for picks, but ultimately shelved it. The Sixers are clearly in a win-now mode, and Simmons should clearly still be their best ticket to a no. 1 seed next year.
More #NBA source: ‘Eventually he’s going to show up. (#Sixers will) go from there.’ They apparently plan to fine Simmons if he doesn’t attend 2021-22 camp, preseason & so on. Don’t want to trade for draft picks & try to convert to players. Can’t get any of 5-10 NBA guys they like https://t.co/CVfFbQLJH4
— Tom Moore (@TomMoorePhilly) September 15, 2021
It’s always been the player who emerges victorious in standoffs of this nature in the past. But the Sixers seem to have the stomach in them to make the saga as long and drawn-out as possible.