Ben Simmons reveals he, Joel Embiid never had relationship while with Sixers
The Ben Simmons era ended in an ugly fashion for the Philadelphia 76ers as the All-Star guard forced his way out from the organization following a tumultuous summer in 2021. He had a tough time following the team’s Game 7 loss to the Atlanta Hawks and it really affected him mentally.
He was then traded to the Brooklyn Nets in February of 2022 after months of speculation about whether he would return to Philadelphia and play in any games for the franchise considering the Sixers were taking their time with finding a trade for him.
Now that Simmons is in Brooklyn, he is beginning to speak out on his time in Philadelphia and he was asked about his relationship with Joel Embiid by ESPN’s Nick Friedell:
I don’t talk to Jo. We never really spoke.
I don’t think there was really a relationship there. Like in terms of a friendship? You can try as hard as you want to try to be close to somebody, be their friend, whatever it is, but everyone is different as people, so for me, it’s never personal. I don’t have any anger or hate towards him. He is who he is and I am who I am. And we’ve got our personal lives. And work is basketball, so in that moment, my goal is to win and I got to win with Jo. He’s a great player, we just didn’t get it done.
It is interesting to see that the relationship everybody thought Simmons and Embiid had doesn’t seem to be the case. Now that Simmons is with the Nets now and the two sides can move on, the focus should be just that: moving on.
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