Philadelphia 76ers: Ben Simmons alienates teammates

The Ben Simmons sage has yet another layer added to it. It doesn’t have to do with the All-Star and the Philadelphia 76ers, but it was between him and his teammates. Shams Charania of The Athletic first reported the story.

Besides an olive branch extended by Joel Embiid, there’s hasn’t been much news between Simmons and his teammates. This just adds to the narrative that Simmons is going to stick to his convictions and that there will be no resolution between the two sides outside of a trade.

What does this mean for the team and their chemistry moving forward? Let’s analyze the pros and cons of Simmons turning away his teammates.

Pros and Cons Simmons alienates Philadelphia 76ers teammates

The pros are now that Simmons has made it clear to his teammates he doesn’t want to be involved with them, there should be no more doubt in their minds. That means that they can focus on preparing for the season without Simmons on the active roster.

This means that young point guard Tyrese Maxey and Shake Milton have a better idea for their role will be entering this season. Those two guys will be important to the success of the offense, so having them ready to take on big roles will be very important.

The con is of course this team won’t have an All-Star level playmaker and defender on the roster. For all of his faults, Simmons is a unique player who impacts winning during the regular season. Without him nor the potential return in a trade involving him on this roster, it will be hard for them to stay at the top of the Eastern Conference this season.

It was surprising in some ways that Simmons turned away his teammates, but it also holds true to his stance on not reuniting with the Philadelphia 76ers. While this should help the team mentally prepare for him not being on the roster, the fact that he won’t be on the roster will hurt them contending in the short term.