In a situation that has plenty of twists and turns, we saw another one occur today between the Philadelphia 76ers and NBA All-Star Ben Simmons.
Simmons surprised the organization, showing up at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on Monday to begin the process of reporting to the team.
Simmons has been in California for the last two weeks while the 76ers have been in training camp preparing for the regular season. He has been fined as a result of missing practices and preseason games, but that would come to an end with him now reporting to the team.
The team was expecting Simmons to show up later in the week, so his Monday night arrival was a surprise. But, now, the team and Simmons can have their meetings to figure out what the next steps in this process will be.
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Resuming communication is a step in the right direction for a resolution to come about. Simmons hasn’t directly conversed with the front office or Doc Rivers since August when during a meeting he made his desires for a trade known again.
Any communication since then has been done through Rich Paul, his agent and CEO of Klutch Sports. But, the question many will ask now is why did Simmons return when he did?
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, people described Simmons as wanting to make a point and knew that his unprecedented actions, skipping training camp and preseason games, had garnered the attention of many.
Part of the discussion will undoubtedly be about how much money Simmons can recoup. The team was withholding his salary for failing to report in addition to the fines he was accruing. Another thing that will assuredly be talked about is his playing future.
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Can the Philadelphia 76ers convince Ben Simmons to return to the court, which may improve his trade value around the league? Or, is he reporting and doing just that to avoid any more fines?
We will have to wait and see how things play out. But, knowing that there is some communication from both sides is a step in the right direction for a resolution coming about.
