Adam Hunger/Getty Images Ben Simmons
Thursday night was a big night in Philadelphia as former Sixer Ben Simmons made his return to the Wells Fargo Center. Simmons was traded for James Harden at the trade deadline after refusing to play for the Sixers this season because he was upset with the team.
While Simmons wasn’t in uniform on Thursday night, he was on the bench for the game, which meant Sixers fans got the chance to voice their frustrations with him. Since the trade things had gone well for the Sixers, as they’d gone 5-0 with Harden on the floor and averaged a blistering 125.4 points per game. But the Nets slowed them down, winning 129-100.
Soured Relationships
Since Simmons has been traded multiple members of the Sixers have spoken on the status of their relationship with him. Danny Green joined the Ryen Russillo Podcast on Thursday where he discussed trying to reach out to him.
“I think we all tried at different times to reach out … we were supposed to fly to L.A. before training camp to talk to him and I was going back anyway because I have my house there…The team was going to set up something for us all to go when they heard he wasn’t interested in having the meeting they just let those plans die out,” said Green.
“I was going anyway so I did reach out, I think his number might have changed at that point, I don’t know, but I reached out on a personal level and said look man we can turn this thing around, let’s sit down and have a talk. I sent a couple of text messages at different times, throughout a couple of weeks just seeing where he was at, I hadn’t talked to him … I was checking with him and I hadn’t heard back. When he showed we were shocked to see him … we were excited like what’s up, but he didn’t give off the same energy like being excited about it.”
While Simmons changing his number isn’t a big deal, it’s a little surprising that he didn’t let any of his teammates know. It speaks to just how fractured the relationship had gotten, that it wasn’t just the organization, but also with his teammates.
During the interview, Green also admitted that the team would discuss who they might get in a trade for Simmons and which of them would possibly be included in the trade. He also said he saw Andre Drummond, who was part of the trade, leaving the team facility just moments before the trade was announced.
Raucous Environment
This is just one more story that stoked the fire as Simmons sat on the Nets bench on Thursday night. A video has already surfaced on social media of Sixers fans “greeting” Simmons as he left the team hotel.
Earlier in the week, it was also reported that the Wells Fargo Center boosted security tonight in Simmons’ return. All of this for a game that he won’t even be playing in — imagine what will happen if the two teams were to meet in the playoffs, with Simmons finally active.