Ben Simmons finally breaks with the Philadelphia 76ers , the Australian player has let the team know that he does not intend to show up at the training camp and that he will never play a game with the Sixers again. As reported by ESPN, Simmons is aware of the possible penalties he could face.
The serious prospect that Simmons might actually boycott the 76ers camp had already been anticipated by Substack’s Marc Stein on Tuesday.
If they choose the hard-line, the 76ers could fine the player for every training day and every missed game, with deductions from salary. During the off-season, Philadelphia did not find any solution via trade or teams interested in the player, also due to requests deemed excessive on the market. Simmons is under contract with the Sixers for another 4 years and over $ 130 million overall and has just turned 25.
the break between Simmons and the 76ers environment was consumed in the 2021 playoffs, after the defeat in Game 7 at home against the Atlanta Hawks in the second round and the flop of the Australian, author of a disappointing series and closed with 34% ai free throws and an incredible mistake in the fourth quarter of the seventh game, when about 3 minutes from time and with the game in the balance, he passed an easy dunk to serve Matisse Thybulle, marked and who ended up being fouled.
After the defeat, Joel Embiid and coach Doc Rivers would in fact dump Simmons, with their post-match statements. In August, following Ben Simmons’ request for a trade, Embiid shied away from responsibility by reiterating a belated trust in his teammate.