Joel Embiid reacts to Sixers throwing Ben Simmons out of practice

Ky Carlin
·2 min read
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The Philadelphia 76ers are getting set to begin the season on Wednesday when they take on the New Orleans Pelicans on the road down in The Big Easy. Before they could board the plane and head to New Orleans, they had to get back to work on Tuesday for one final practice.

It seemed like it was going to be a normal practice day as well. Just fine-tune some things and look to open the season on the right foot on the road.

Then, it wasn’t as the Ben Simmons saga took another turn.

Simmons was thrown out of practice on Tuesday for reusing to participate in a defensive drill and he will now be suspended for Wednesday’s opener in New Orleans. This is a continued soap opera surrounding the Sixers and it is something that needs to be figured out sooner rather than later.

Sixers Wire was not able to be at practice due to a flight to get to New Orleans, but Joel Embiid spoke out on the Simmons situation at practice:

At this point, I don’t care about that man, honestly. He does whatever he wants. That’s not my job, that’s those guys’ jobs, I’m only focused on trying to make the team better, win some games, play hard every night, try to lead the guys that we have here, and I’m sure they feel the same way because our chemistry has been excellent despite everything that’s been happening in the last few months. I don’t really care.

The Sixers built their team around the idea that Simmons and Embiid will be here to lead this team to a title. However, with this latest turn in the situation, it looks like this will be the final straw for the duo.

Embiid was then asked if he wants to talk to Simmons and try to talk it out. This was his response:

Like I said, I’m not here to babysit. I would be willing to babysit if somebody wants to listen, but that’s not my job. That’s out of my control. I’m focused on what’s here and let’s try to win some games.

The Sixers and the Pelicans begin the 2021-22 season on Wednesday at 8 p.m. EDT.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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