At the conclusion of the 2018 regular season, the 76ers finished with a 52-30 record, clinching the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference, advancing to the playoffs for the first time since 2012 and going to the semifinals. Most importantly, they had Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons as the backbone of the franchise following those miserable “Process” years.
Now we’re in 2021, and the 76ers have failed to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals in the last three seasons, and title contenders in the East like the Nets and Bucks are only getting stronger. Ever since the Hawks stunned the Sixers in the semifinals, all signs point to the Sixers trading Simmons, as he wants out of Philadelphia, and he told management that he no longer wants to play for the team.
This has set up a lasting drama between the two sides, where the Sixers’ championship hopes are going to be largely diminished without him on the floor—balancing the likely short-term losses with him not on the floor against the long-term goals of acquiring a maximum trade return.
Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and head coach Doc Rivers told Simmons that they want him to be in training camp to partner up with 2021 NBA MVP finalist Joel Embiid, something that Simmons told them that he no longer wants to do.
At Simmons’ request, the Sixers were discussing trades throughout the league since the end of the playoffs, but were disappointed in the offers and decided to hold on to him, hoping he would start the season and improve with his performance.
What stemmed those trade talks was the fact that Simmons averaged 9.9 points per game and shot 15 of 45 during the Sixers’ 2nd round loss to the Hawks. He attempted just 14 shots in the final three games and had just three 4th quarter field goal attempts in the entire series, with none from Games 4 through 7, even passing up a wide-open dunk in the 4th quarter of Game 7.
His confidence in his shot is at an all-time low. With no field goal attempts in Games 4 through 7, this was a continuation of similar disappearing acts down the stretch in playoff losses in previous seasons.
He also ended the playoffs shooting 34.2 percent from the free throw line, the worst among all players playing in the 2021 playoffs (minimum 10 games), and the worst in a single playoffs in NBA history (minimum 70 attempts), even lower than Shaquille O’Neal in 2006 (37.4%) and Wilt Chamberlain in 1968 (38.0%). And keep in mind this was after he shot 70.7% from the line in his first playoff run.
Those disappointments brought some brutal comments from Embiid and Rivers. Embiid called Simmons’ decision to pass up an open dunk in the 4th quarter of Game 7 a “turning point” in the game, and Rivers said that he didn’t know if Simmons could be a point guard on a championship team.
This may have showed that he was afraid of going to the free throw line because of his abysmal free throw percentage in the playoffs. After averaging 12.5 points in the first four games of the series, he averaged 6.3 in the final three.
He has four years left and $147M left on his current contract, including $33M for the 2022 season, and he understands the financial implications of holding out. The Sixers previously had Simmons in the trade talks when James Harden was mentioned all over the trade boards, as the Rockets wanted Simmons, Matisse Thybulle, Tyrese Maxey and draft picks.
And now the Sixers are in an offseason where it appears that it’s going to be an endless soap opera revolving around them and Simmons. With training camps around the corner, there is no clear-cut favorite to land him, and potential suitors are hesitant to overpay for someone who collapsed on the playoff stage and has publicly denounced his current team.
Embiid was disappointed in the situation between the two, and this follows after that multiple Sixers wanted to meet with the point guard to convince them to come back to the team for the 2022 season, but they were informed not to come, and that Simmons was unwilling to meet with them.
Embiid added, “I really hope he changes his mind. I do love playing with him because he adds so much to our team. We’ve been building this team around us. I don’t see it as ‘This is my team.’ I don’t care about any of that.”
Embiid wants Simmons back on the team, and so do Rivers and Morey, but it’s becoming clearer that the Sixers can’t win a power struggle against Simmons. But he has a point on Simmons bringing more to the team.
The best version of the Embiid-Simmons Sixers was the 2019 team that also featured Jimmy Butler, where they lost to the Toronto Raptors on Kawhi Leonard’s buzzer beater. Butler left for the Miami Heat the next season, and there was a lot of speculation that the Sixers didn’t put all the effort to keep him.
The whole Simmons situation also has good points on why he is holding out too. The Sixers tried trading him once and only seemed to be holding on to him so that his trade value raises. Simmons also believes that it is not his job to help the team get more trade value back in a potential deal.
While Simmons and the Sixers are both losers in the Sixers holdout, there is one winner, though: Maxey.
With Simmons in LA, Maxey is going to earn more opportunities to showcase his development. So far, he has gotten first-team minutes in place of Simmons, which Rivers confirmed was the case in Day 1 of training camp. Maxey played just 205 minutes with Embiid in the 2021 season, but given the situation, it’s likely that Maxey will see elevated playing time with Embiid, Tobias Harris, Danny Green and Seth Curry.
Maxey averaged two assists per game and made 31 of his 103 attempts from three, good for a 30.1 three-point shooting percentage. Neither of those two numbers should be surprising given that he averaged 3.2 assists and 1.1 made threes on 3.6 attempts per game in college, but few teams can get such a level of production from their starting point guard and remain a playoff contender. When looking at the Stats per 36 minutes category, Maxey would be averaging 18.8 points, four assists, and 1.2 threes on 4 attempts per game.
If Maxey shines, maybe it would ease up Morey’s mind on trading Simmons for a package surrounding shooting guards like CJ McCollum or Collin Sexton. But if Maxey struggles, the need for a number one facilitator becomes more important, with Darius Garland and John Wall on the table.
Going back to the Simmons front. Simmons is still an elite defender in the league because of his length. The 6’ 11” Aussie made the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team in the 2021 season. Along with being an elite defender, he is also an elite playmaker, as he has averaged 7.7 assists per game throughout his career. He can still be a quality scorer, especially near the hoop, so it is reasonable why Embiid was frustrated at Simmons passing up the wide-open dunk. But if Simmons can’t improve his confidence as a scorer, his potential may be limited.
And with the situation going on between the Sixers and Simmons, it appears no end is in sight anytime soon. The CBA and uniform player contract provide a number of leverage points when it comes to Simmons. When players sign new contracts, they provide playing service to the team, so if they breach this contract and don’t play services, they’re going to be subject to fines and withheld game payments. This is exactly the case with Simmons should this situation deteriorate any further to where he no-shows.
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