Few breakups have been as dramatic as the one between the Philadelphia 76ers and Ben Simmons.
Now that Simmons has been traded to the Brooklyn Nets, all the dirty details from behind the scenes are starting to come out.
In his first press conference with the Nets, Simmons spoke briefly about his split from the 76ers – and it doesn’t sound like it went well at all.
Simmons told the media that the trade “didn’t feel real for a few days” and that, while he did talk to the Sixers’ front office and coach Doc Rivers, he didn’t sit down and speak his former teammate, Joel Embiid.
Break-Up Of The Century
We knew that the situation with the 76ers and Simmons was bad but the fact that he didn’t even talk to Embiid shows just how frayed the relationship truly was.
By all accounts, Embiid was always a very supportive teammate when Simmons was on the team.
It is true that he made a few less-than-subtle comments regarding Simmons as the rumors and speculation about Simmons swirled around but it’s still shocking to hear that they never had a sit-down chat.
However, this isn’t the only part of this split that’s gotten messy.
The other part of this equation, James Harden, was also increasingly unhappy playing for the Nets.
Certain details show just how dysfunctional the team was becoming because of Harden’s displeasure.
As both of these players make new homes for themselves on their respective teams, they are becoming bigger villains to the fanbases they just left.
It will certainly make March 10 an interesting night because that’s when the two teams will go head-to-head for the first time since this major blockbuster trade.
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