Ben Simmons tried to reach out to his former teammate Joel Embiid over the summer, after years of tension between the pair.
It doesn’t mean that there will be a reunion in Philly, but insider Ramona Shelburne isn’t totally ruling out the possibility.
“He’d even reached out to Embiid and others last summer, league sources said, hoping to mend fences,” Shelburne said. “Simmons, who is in the final year of his contract in Brooklyn, has shown how he can still impact a game with his passing, length and defense. But in the second quarter of the game Friday, he also missed the rim on a layup in a clip that quickly went viral — reminding everyone of how his time in Philadelphia went awry. Could they ever try to figure it out together again? One source called it unlikely, but stranger things have happened. Especially with the Sixers.”
Embiid and Simmons played four seasons together at the 76ers and it wasn’t without it’s fair share of drama.
When Simmons was traded to the Nets Embiid told reporters he didn’t think winning was Ben’s top priority.
“It’s unfortunate winning was not the biggest factor,” Embiid said of Simmons. “It’s unfortunate that for him having his own team and, I guess, being a star was more his priorities.”
There was also drama over the Game 7 playoffs loss when Simmons blew it in the clutch and Embiid said in reference to Simmons, “I’ll be honest: I thought the turning point was when we had an open shot, and we made one free throw and we missed the other, and they came down and scored.”
Then, before the start of the 2022-23 season, Simmons told ESPN that he and Embiid “never really spoke” when they played together.
“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.”
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