Philadelphia 76ers star guard Ben Simmons will not be on the court when his team opens its home slate Friday against the Brooklyn Nets.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that the embattled three-time All-Star is not “mentally ready to play” and will be sidelined for the foreseeable future.
“Sources: 76ers All-Star Ben Simmons is currently not mentally ready to play for the team and was receiving treatment on his back today due to ramp up process,” the NBA insider reported. “He will miss Friday’s home opener vs. Nets and is not expected to play for an undetermined period of time.”
Simmons, 25, reported to the 76ers back in Oct. 11 after holding out in hopes of landing with another team in a trade. He took part in one practice, but was jettisoned from the session by head coach Doc Rivers. The former No. 1 pick was then suspended for Philadelphia’s season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday and found himself fined a whopping $1.4 million for missing preseason action.
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What’s the end game for Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers?
There’s still a decent chance that Simmons has played his final game in Philadelphia despite the 76ers failing to find a trade partner this past off-season.
The situation just doesn’t seem sustainable, especially with star teammate Joel Embiid going on the offensive earlier this week by saying he doesn’t care about Simmons and it’s not his job to babysit the point guard.
The backdrop here is a fan base in Philadelphia that was more than prepared to throw boo-birds in the direction of Simmons if he did suit up for the 76ers home opener at Wells Fargo Center on Friday.
By now, you likely already know the backstory here. Simmons requested to be dealt during the summer after he struggled big time during Philadelphia’s premature exit in the 2021 NBA Playoffs. In turn, Sixers front office head Daryl Morey seemingly demanded too much in trade talks with the likes of the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs, among others.
Given what we’ve seen from Ben Simmons over the past several months, it seems unlikely that he has a robust trade market. That makes things much more difficult for a 76ers squad that fancies itself as a title contender.
The No. 1 overall pick of Philadelphia back in 2016, Simmons i s averaging 15.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 7.7 assists on 56% shooting from the field during his career.
However, he struggled big time during the playoffs a season ago. The LSU product averaged a mere 11.9 points to go with 7.9 rebounds and 8.8 assists while shooting an historically bad 34% from the free-throw line This performance pre-dated Simmons requesting a trade.
It’s certainly going to be interesting to see what happens on this front moving forward. But for now, Philadelphia is likely moving on with the expectation that Simmons won’t join the team any time soon.
The 76ers won their regular-season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday evening by the score of 117-97. Taking Ben Simmons’ spot in the starting five, sophomore guard Tyrese Maxey scored 20 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists while shooting 8-of-14 from the field.
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