Even though Ben Simmons was exchanged from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Brooklyn Nets a while back, there were still a few remaining details between the All-Star guard and his old team that needed to be taken care of. Simmons filed a complaint against the Sixers in April to get some of the nearly $20 million salaries that Philadelphia kept from him last season because he didn’t play in games before the trade. Adrian Wojnarowski says that the two sides have reached a deal but that the exact dollar amount will remain secret.
Ben begged to be traded before last season.
Simmons asked the Sixers to trade him before last season started, and he was adamant that he wouldn’t play again until he moved. The Sixers thought the All-Defensive guard broke his contract when he didn’t appear at the beginning of the instructional course and wouldn’t play in the preseason and regular season games. So, Philadelphia stopped giving him his $360,000 per-game salary for every game he missed. The Sixers took $1.3 million out of Simmons’ paychecks every time he got paid. That added up to almost $20 million last season.
Simmons didn’t play for Philadelphia last season because he was worried about his mental health, but the Sixers thought he had broken his contract. Even though we won’t know how much Simmons got back from the Sixers, this settlement marks the finish of his experience with the group, and both Simmons and the Sixers can move on.
Simmons can focus on his Nets debut.
Simmons can now give his full attention to his long-awaited first game with the Nets. Simmons didn’t play a single match for Brooklyn after being traded there last year due to his back injury, However, the Nets team playing on could look very different from the one changed to the previous season since Kevin Durant’s, and Kyrie Irving’s futures have been uncertain for over two months. At the beginning of free agency, Durant asked Brooklyn to trade him, and he hasn’t changed his mind. Meanwhile, it has been said that the Nets will trade Irving elsewhere, possibly to the Los Angeles Lakers.
With this settlement, the Sixers can move on from the Simmons story and focus on trying to come out on top for a title with Joel Embiid and James Harden at the center of it all. Ironically, the Sixers have been mentioned as a possible team that could trade for Durant. However, they are not the only team that would love to get the two-time Finals MVP.
