Ben Simmons was looking for houses in Houston not too long ago.
Let’s start there.
Early on last season, when the intel coming the Philadelphia 76ers guard’s way indicated that he’d likely be trading places with then Rockets-star James Harden, Simmons was so convinced that new Sixers president Daryl Morey was about to reunite with his favorite franchise player that he started researching on the real estate front. If you had to pinpoint a moment when emotional ties were severed between Simmons and the only NBA franchise he has ever known, that may have been it.
Even if no one knew it at the time.
The trade never came, however. Harden headed for Brooklyn instead, and Simmons — who took the uncertainty in stride and never publicly complained about the role he had unwillingly played in it all — came back to the team that would finish the regular season with the best record in the East before its ill-fated end against Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Fast forward to Monday afternoon, when Morey, Sixers coach Doc Rivers and big man Joel Embiid all spoke at length about Simmons’ absence from their training camp during the team’s media day, and it should surprise no one that their messages fell flat when they reached the Simmons camp. If anything, it only added to the agitation.
