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Although Ben Simmons was traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Brooklyn Nets over six months ago, there were still some loose ties that needed to be tied between the all-star guard and his former franchise. Simmons filed a complaint against the Sixers back in April to recover part of the nearly $20 million salary Philadelphia withheld from him last season for refusing to play games before he was traded . Now, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, the two sides have reached an agreement, although the exact dollar amount is yet to be determined remain confidential.
Simmons requested a trade with the Sixers before the start of last season and insisted he wouldn’t play again until the Sixers dealt him somewhere else. When he failed to show up for the start of training camp last season and refused to play in preseason and regular-season games, the Sixers felt the all-defensive guard was in breach of his contract. As a result, Philadelphia began withholding the $360,000 per game salary for each missed game. For every paycheck Simmons received, the Sixers kept $1.3 million, which totaled nearly $20 million last season.
While the Sixers felt Simmons was in breach of contract, the 26-year-old guard cited his mental health as the reason he did not field for Philadelphia last season. While we won’t know the exact dollar amount Simmons got back from the Sixers, this settlement can officially end his time with the team and both sides can move forward.
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Simmons can now fully focus on his long-awaited debut with the Nets. After Simmons moved to Brooklyn last season, he didn’t show up for a single game due to a back injury. But the Nets team he shares the floor with could look very different than the one he was traded to last season as the futures of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have been in doubt for over two months. Durant requested a trade from Brooklyn early in free agency and hasn’t wavered in that stance while the Nets were rumored to be trading Irving elsewhere, possibly to the Los Angeles Lakers.
For the Sixers, the official end of the Simmons chapter with the conclusion of this settlement means the team can look forward to fighting for a championship with Joel Embiid and James Harden at the heart of it all. Ironically, the Sixers have been linked with a potential trade for Durant, but they’re just one of several teams keen to win the two-time Finals MVP.