MY ACCOUNT
MVP contender Joel Embiid is glad to put the Ben Simmons trade saga behind him and the Philadelphia 76ers admitting the situation was “pretty annoying”.
Simmons landed a blockbuster NBA deadline trade to the Brooklyn Nets, with 2018 MVP James Harden heading in the opposite direction, with Paul Millsap, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and a pair of first-round picks also swapping hands.
Three-time All Star Simmons had not played all season after an off-season fallout with the 76ers following a disastrous playoffs campaign, before seeking a trade away which took months to reach a resolution, with Embiid regularly pressed on the situation.
“Yeah, I’m happy that I’m not going to be answering any more questions about that subject,” Embiid told reporters.
“It’s good that, not just for me, but my teammates, the whole organization. The whole year, it was pretty annoying with the whole situation, but I’m glad that everybody has moved on.
“I wish everybody the best in whatever they want to accomplish, but I’m focused on winning games here and trying to win a championship.”
Embiid and Simmons’ partnership at the 76ers had been seen as the foundation for an NBA title push but the duo never took the side to the NBA Finals, despite being Eastern Conference top seeds last season (49-23 record).
“It’s unfortunate how everything happened, because you look at the history and we didn’t get it done as far as winning in the playoffs, but you look at the history being on the court, what we did in the regular season, we were dominant,” Embiid said.
“So it’s unfortunate that winning was not the biggest factor. It’s unfortunate that for him, having his own team and being the star was more of his priorities.
“But I always thought that everything was great, the fit was great. But unfortunately Ben thought that it wasn’t. But we all move on.”
