Asked for his reaction to the trade that sent James Harden (and Paul Millsap) to Philadelphia, Joel Embiid noticeably named only two of his former teammates.
“It’s James Harden,” Embiid said following the Sixers’ win Friday night over the Thunder. “First of all, it sucks to lose some of my teammates. Seth (Curry) did such a good job for us the year and a half he was here. (Andre Drummond) was as good as any of the backups that we’ve had in Philly since I’ve been here.
“So it sucks to lose them, but it’s James Harden — one of the best players in the league, MVP. It’s pretty exciting. ... I’m just excited to get on with it and try to figure out how to put it all together as a team, and go from there.”
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Though key pieces on the 2021-22 Sixers, neither Curry nor Drummond were the most important player shipped to the Nets.
Ben Simmons is now on Brooklyn’s roster, and so it was natural to wonder how Embiid felt about the conclusion of a protracted saga that included an offseason trade request, Simmons telling the Sixers he wasn’t mentally ready to play, and 54 consecutive games for the team this season without a three-time All-Star.
“I’m happy that I’m not going to be answering any more questions about that subject,” he said. “It’s good, not just for me but my teammates, too. The whole organization the whole year … it was pretty annoying with the whole situation, but I’m glad everybody has moved on and I wish everybody the best in whatever they want to accomplish. I’m focused on winning games here and trying to win a championship.”
Sixers head coach Doc Rivers said Friday he’d had a “long talk” with Simmons. He called it a “great conversation.”
NBA
Embiid said him and Simmons did not speak after the deal.
“I honestly don’t care,” Embiid said. “Honestly. Like I’ve always said, it’s unfortunate how everything happened. You look at the history, obviously we didn’t get it done as far as winning in the playoffs. But you look at the history of being on the court, what we did during the regular season, we were dominant.
“So it’s unfortunate that winning was not the biggest factor. It’s unfortunate that for him, having his own team and I guess being a star was more of his priorities. But I always thought that everything was great, the fit was great, but unfortunately they thought that it wasn’t. But we all move on.”
When Embiid and Simmons both played, the Sixers went 144-63 in the regular season.
In the playoffs, the duo was eliminated by the Celtics in the second round; devastated by Kawhi Leonard’s quadruple-bounce buzzer-beater the next year; swept by Boston in the NBA’s Disney World bubble with Simmons sidelined by a left knee injury; upset by the Hawks in a series where Embiid played through a small meniscus tear and Simmons made 33.3 percent of his foul shots.
Embiid’s comment about Simmons wanting "his own team" was ear-catching and will surely make its way to Brooklyn. Of course, the Nets’ Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have combined for 19 All-Star selections.
The Sixers and Nets will meet on March 10 in Philadelphia. There’s nothing firm yet on when Harden or Simmons might debut for their new teams.
All parties involved have great reasons for excitement. Thinking about what went wrong and how we reached this point would be logical, too. In answering a question about lessons learned regarding how to best acclimate a star like Harden, Embiid (again eliding Simmons’ name) referenced the 2018-19 Sixers.
He described internal disagreement about what Jimmy Butler and Simmons’ roles should’ve been.
“When you add new people in the season, it’s tough to get everybody on the same page,” Embiid said. “And it really took a while for us to really get on the same page. It wasn’t until the playoffs when we decided that Jimmy was on the ball as the point guard. We talked about it when we got everybody. A lot of people weren’t into it, and then we got to the playoffs and now you start doing it and it was kind of too late to figure that out.
“Like I said, it’s all about bringing everybody together and trying to figure out the best way to play. But at the same time, we still have to be ourselves. I’ve got to be myself; I’ve got to be dominant. I’ve got to keep doing whatever I’ve been doing. But then again, part of me is also making my teammates better and giving up myself for the team, so doing whatever is necessary to accomplish that. When you win a championship, everybody wins. It’s exciting times. I can’t wait to get to work.”
With Simmons now on an Eastern Conference rival, the questions about him likely aren’t over completely for Embiid.
He’ll be fielding far more questions on most nights about Harden, though, and it’s clear he’s glad that’s the case.