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The NBA newswire may be slowing after the initial bursts and Woj bombs of free agency, but the Philadelphia 76ers remain a hot topic in the national hoops discourse. That will likely continue to be the case, too, as long as Ben Simmons remains on the team’s roster.
On Monday, baller turned ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins became the latest pundit to sound off on Simmons’ situation in Philly. In doing so, he gave a particularly grim assessment of what could transpire if Sixers president Daryl Morey doesn’t deal him this offseason.
“Ben Simmons is not answering the phone calls, he don’t want to be with the 76ers, and from what I heard, he’s willing not to report to training camp, and will go as long as it takes for him to get out of Philly,” Perkins said on The Jump.
“I say where there’s smoke there’s fire.”
Simmons: In Communication or Incommunicado?
While the possibility of a holdout is a new concept, the idea that Simmons isn’t communicating with the Sixers has been floated before.
Although he later walked back the comments, Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer told Liberty Ballers’ Steve Lipman and Dan Volpone that the team hasn’t been able to “really even get in touch” with Simmons since the Sixers’ playoff run ended.
In short order, multiple Sixers insiders gave contrasting reports that the two sides continued to be in contact, per team sources. More recently, though, KRON4’s Jason Dumas reported that Simmons had essentially cut off all contact with the Sixers and that the team had been forced to communicate through his agent, Rich Paul.
“Joel Embiid has reached out to him several times since the end of the season,” Dumas added during an appearance on The Morning Roast. “He hasn’t returned Joel Embiid’s calls.”
This could all be chalked up to rumor and innuendo, of course. Simmons using his agent as a go-between during the summer could just be business as usual and nothing to be concerned about, too. Or, it could be a sign that he’s pushing for his own exit, as Perkins has asserted.
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Push and Pull
Rumors aside and his playoff meltdown notwithstanding, Simmons still has a lot to offer the Sixers (or any NBA team). ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne believes that Morey and Co. may even prefer to hang onto the former No. 1 overall pick.
“The Sixers are open to bringing him back,” she said on The Jump, via Sixers Wire. “In a lot of ways, I think they would prefer that. I think they would prefer to say ‘we don’t want to trade this guy who can win the Defensive Player of the Year, who is a young superstar in the making. Just come back and let’s let’s work on this.'”
However, she doesn’t see Simmons sharing that mindset.
“I don’t know if Ben Simmons has that interest right now because things were said afterwards. After the season, Doc Rivers said some things. Joel Embiid said some things. I know there’s been trying to smoothing out of that relationship, but it doesn’t seem like Ben is necessarily interested in that right now.”
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