Ben Simmons on Joel Embiid: ‘We never ever actually spoke’

Nets star Ben Simmons states he “never definitely experienced a relationship” with his ex-Philadelphia 76ers teammate Joel Embiid, and that the two have not spoken given that the blockbuster trade previous time.

Simmons, for the duration of a sitdown interview with ESPN in Milwaukee, said he didn’t consider it personally when Sixers fans booed him even though he was on the bench in the course of the Nets’ March 10 matchup in Philadelphia past time.

The star ahead reported he’s searching forward to really taking part in against his former crew at the Wells Fargo Heart on Nov. 22.

“F—, I cannot hold out to go there, yeah,” he advised ESPN. “But for me, everything’s an experience and a learning predicament. So for me, I’m ready to study anything that I’ve in no way been by means of just before. I have under no circumstances been traded and played in opposition to a group that I obtained traded from. Kev [Kevin Durant] has, Ky [Kyrie Irving) has, a lot of guys have, but I’ve never been in that situation, so — you have to go through it.

“Ky went back to Boston, and he didn’t play well, but it’s a lot. We’re people, too. We want to go out there and prove everyone wrong.”

But of course, there’s going to be drama. Simmons will be playing both against a former head coach in Doc Rivers and a co-star in Embiid who threw him under the bus after the 76ers lost Game 7 of the second round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks. Rivers suggested he was unsure Simmons could be the point guard of a championship team and most recently declined to reflect on his time coaching Simmons during the 76ers’ preseason-opening trip to Brooklyn.

Embiid flat-out blamed Simmons for the loss after Simmons turned down an open dunk and instead passed the ball to a teammate who missed a shot: “I don’t know how to say it,” Embiid said after that game, “but I thought the turning point was we had an open shot, we missed and we made one free throw.”

Simmons, however, said he and Embiid were never as close of friends as their success as teammates would indicate.

“I don’t talk to Jo,” he said. “We never really spoke.

“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.”

Simmons told ESPN that winning a championship in Brooklyn “would mean everything” to him and it “would be a dream come true.”

“In a situation like this, being in Brooklyn with these guys and this city, it would be incredible,” he continued. “We got a long way to go, but I think this team’s capable of special things.”

Simmons also said he’s in the best place he’s been in some time.

“I think so,” he said. “You know what? I know so.”

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