Good News: The Ben Simmons-Sixers Drama Likely Won't Last Four Years. Bad News: It Could Definitely Last a Year
By Kyle Koster
Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers are in the midst of a standoff. The team's stance is that the well-compensated player should show up and play basketball. Simmons' stance is, well, a bit unclear but he doesn't have much interest in even faking interest in hooping for the only NBA team he's known. Yesterday, Philadelphia general manger Daryl Morey suggested this awkward dance could play out over four calendar years. There's a chance we'll have developed the technology to connect iPhones directly to our brains. God only knows what the state of play will be in Washington D.C. by then.
Four years is a long time. Hell, one year is a long time. And that's the new updated timeline from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, who went on Get Up this morning to explain the Sixers' strategy and what he believes is a willingness to keep it up for the entire season.
The latest from @wojespn on the Ben Simmons situation in Philly:
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) October 22, 2021
"I don't think [the 76ers will] go four years, but I do think they'd go a full year of doing this." pic.twitter.com/YhTtolATu8
"The leverage the Sixers have right now on Ben Simmons is being able essentially to keep him from really earning money this season and so they're going to continue to try to do that and wear him down to the point where he does come back and play."
Morey would like Simmons to either snap out of it and play basketball or pretend to snap out of it, put on a brave face, and stop being a clubhouse cancer long enough for the Sixers to find a suitable trade partner. It feels like the whole thing could be resolved in a week but nothing to this point suggests Simmons is going to have such an epiphany.
Your personal feeds may vary, of course, but it's been incredible to see just how few people are coming to Simmons' side in this dispute. Even those who are loud and proud about workers' rights, myself included, are essentially telling him to get out of here with this nonsense.
I have been covering or paying attention to sports labor issues for a long time and no one has more thoroughly management-pilled me than bumass Ben Simmons https://t.co/eWLNwJSjry
— Tim Marchman (@timmarchman) October 19, 2021
More than that, though, is how tiresome this saga has already become to neutral parties. At this point I might pay $40 out of my own pocket to have someone else monitor the day-to-day machinations and provide updates. It simply does not spark joy.
At least it's almost over. Right?
Right?