Getty Brooklyn's Kyrie Irving controls the ball against Philadelphia's Ben Simmons in the first quarter at the Wells Fargo Center on April 14, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Brooklyn Nets star Ben Simmons is preparing to make his regular season debut with his new squad when they take on the New Orleans Pelicans on October 19. It will be his first regular season game since 2021.
Simmons did not play in the first half of the 2021-22 season as he awaited a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers. He had a bitter breakup with the franchise after a controversial decision to pass up a nearly wide-open layup in Game 7 of the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals. That decision led to their elimination and ultimately landed him in Brooklyn via a February blockbuster trade that sent James Harden to Philadelphia.
Despite Simmons’ refusal to play for the franchise last season, as he chose to sit on the sideline until he was traded from Philadelphia, he is not ready to rule out playing for the Sixers in the future.
“Who knows? I can’t predict the future. I would have never told myself this would have gone this way at the start of my career. Who knows if, in four or five years, I end up going back? I don’t know,” Simmons said of a potential Philadelphia return in an interview with ESPN’s Nick Friedell.
“It could be a whole different situation, but for now, I don’t want to make my mind up and say it’s not possible for anything to change.”
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Simmons Unloads on Relationship With Joel Embiid
The friction between Simmons and the Sixers may have started after a Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the 2021 playoffs. He passed up a wide-open layup on a pivotal possession in the 4th quarter, which ultimately decided the game.
In the postgame interview, Sixers star Joel Embiid seemed to call Simmons out when asked about the turning point of that game, replying, “We had an open shot, and we made one free throw.”
Many assumed that moment caused a falling out between the two All-Star teammates, but Simmons revealed that he was never that close with Embiid during his time in Philadelphia, even before that point.
“I don’t think there was really a relationship there. Like in terms of a friendship? You can try as hard as you want to try to be close to somebody, be their friend, whatever it is, but everyone is different as people, so for me, it’s never personal,” Simmons added.
“I don’t have any anger or hate towards him. He is who he is, and I am who I am. And we’ve got our personal lives. And work is basketball, so in that moment, my goal is to win, and I got to win with Jo. He’s a great player, we just didn’t get it done.”
Simmons: Winning Title Would Mean ‘Everything’
Swapping Simmons and Harden may have been one of the rare trades in NBA history that benefitted both teams. The Sixers got a legit first-option scorer in Harden, which they had been lacking. And the Nets got a legit defender who could take on the opposing team’s best player on a nightly basis, something they had lacked throughout the season.
Simmons adding that dynamic to this Nets squad has a lot of people believing that Brooklyn has a legit shot at competing for the title this year. Simmons says helping Brooklyn win a title would be a ‘dream come true’.
“It would mean everything. To me, that would be a dream come true,” Simmons said of winning a title. “In a situation like this, being in Brooklyn with these guys and this city, it would be incredible. But we got a long way to go, but I think this team’s capable of special things.”
The Nets are viewed as a team that has a legit shot to win this year’s title. It will be interesting to see if they get it done.