Getty Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons may be feuding and jealous of each other in Philadelphia.
There have been noisy grumblings about Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid not being able to co-exist. Add an unexpected bout of jealousy to the drama in Philadelphia.
Per FOX Sports’ Chris Broussard, the two superstars are feuding about owning the brightest spotlight. It’s no secret that Embiid and Simmons both enjoy their celebrity status as evidenced by Simmons’ constant paparazzi reel and Embiid’s hilarious social media posts. It could be argued that neither player has been concerned enough about basketball this year.
Well, Broussard has painted a picture of two men at odds about who is actually “the man” on the Sixers. The jealousy reached a breaking point in recent days with teammates telling them to squash the beef and start acting as leaders.
“In the locker room, Embiid wants to be the man. Simmons wants to be the man; they are jealous of one another,” said Broussard, as transcribed by Sports Illustrated’s Justin Grasso. “They are jealous of the spotlight that one another gets not recognizing that they both get the spotlight! They’re both superstars! They both seem to be more concerned … according to people in that situation, they both want to be more celebrity than superstar basketball players.”
A Simmons-Embiid feud is something Al Horford hinted at following Wednesday’s practice when his “some stuff going on” comments may have been misrepresented. Then again, Horford could have been putting it out there that way on purpose, to elicit a response. Former Sixers guard Jimmy Butler indicated something was amiss in Philadelphia before he left town after the season, too.
Broussard continued: “I’m told that other players talked to them as some sort of players meeting, or something like that where they talked to Embiid and Simmons were like ‘Look, you guys gotta lead us, you gotta get it together we should be much better.’ Embiid and Simmons accepted that, but we’ll see how it plays out on the court.”
Embiid Pokes Fun at Trade Deadline on NBA Twitter
With controversy swirling around the Sixers’ locker room, Joel Embiid took to Twitter to play the role of class clown once again. It was funny but maybe a tad tone-deaf in light of recent comments.
Around 2 p.m. on Thursday, or about one hour before the NBA trade deadline ended, Embiid said: “What’s going on? What’s happening?”
Well, not much happened on Thursday as the Sixers’ made the bulk of their roster moves on Wednesday night when it was reported they had acquired Alec Burks and Glenn Robinson III from Golden State.
The two wing players should greatly improve their outside shooting, an area of extreme weakness for the Sixers. Philadelphia also is expected to waive both Jonah Bolden and Trey Burke to make room.
What’s going on? What’s happening?
Meanwhile, Embiid was making headlines for all the wrong reasons as he seemed to call out Brett Brown’s coaching strategy. The All-Star center often gets isolated out on the perimeter instead of down underneath the basket where he can exert his will on opposing centers. The Sixers were supposed to be employing a brand of “Bully Ball” this year and it hasn’t happened on a consistent basis.
“From time to time, you don’t know what you are getting,” Embiid told reporters, via The Inquirer. “I don’t know if I am going into the game and if I am getting the ball or not.”
I asked @JoelEmbiid if the players are still listening to #Sixers coach Brett Brown. Here’s his response: