The Sixers played their first game of the 2021 preseason on Monday, and – as expected – Ben Simmons wasn’t in the building. The three-time All-Star continues his holdout, having not reported to the team for the 2021/22 season.
The 76ers already withheld an $8.25MM advance payment for Simmons for failing to uphold the terms of his contract, placing that money in an escrow account. According to Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks of ESPN, the team now intends to fine the 25-year-old for each preseason and regular season game he misses.
Those fines – which will come out of the escrow account for the time being – will be worth 1/91.6th of Simmons’ salary for 2021/22, per Bontemps and Marks. That means Simmons will lose about $360K of his $33MM salary for each game he misses, starting with Monday’s contest.
Those penalties will add up quickly. If Simmons sits out the preseason and extends his holdout into the regular season, he’ll have missed 10 games by the end of October — the equivalent of $3.6MM in lost salary.
That fine money won’t be easy for Simmons to recoup. If he’s eventually traded, his new team can’t agree to pay him the lost money, according to ESPN’s duo. That contradicts a weekend report which suggested that Simmons’ new team might be able to waive his fines. Bontemps and Marks says the only path for Simmons to get his fine money back would be by reaching a settlement with the 76ers, and point out that Philadelphia has little incentive to negotiate such a settlement.
Here’s more on Simmons:
- Ian Begley of SNY.tv, confirming that the Sixers and Pacers have talked about the possibility of a Simmons trade, reports that Caris LeVert was among the players discussed in those negotiations. However, Begley cautions that it’s unclear whether talks between the two teams progressed beyond exploratory conversations.
- Begley also says the Kings are among the clubs still eyeing Simmons, adding them to the list of six teams with ongoing interest reported over the weekend.
- According to Begley, members of several organizations around the NBA have privately stated they hope the Sixers don’t trade Simmons, since it would set a bad precedent to relent to a player’s demands when he still has four years left on his contract. Chris Mannix of SI.com spoke to one Eastern Conference executive who expressed that view plainly. “F–k that,” the executive said. “You let a guy force his way out with four years left on a max contract and you set a terrible precedent. They can’t cave.”
- Simmons has put one of his residences in the Philadelphia area up for sale and may put the other one on the market as well, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. While monitoring a player’s real estate holdings typically isn’t a reliable way to suss out his future plans, it’s probably safe to assume there’s a correlation in this case.
I think one of the biggest issues overlooked in these situations where a max guy (or any highly paid guy) demands a trade is that the team he’s connected to often has to take on the burden of equal salary. Seldom is that salary of a quality player. Usually it’s a bad contract with perhaps draft incentives or a few role/rotation players equaling the salary. Draft compensation is nice but in the case of Harden they were forced to unexpectedly rebuild. In the case of AD the haul of good young players and draft picks was almost unheard of. The Sixers are win now. On some levels Wall or Love might be of use on the court but certainly not at the value of their contracts. Draft picks are nice but if doesn’t help them immediately and if coming from a contender then they probably won’t be top 10 picks anyway. Assuming Houston pulled Harden off the table then I don’t blame Morey as much as I did earlier if the offers were either bad contract and picks OR some guys thrown together to match salary and perform in a rotation or backup capacity. It’s like drinking 50 mph to a red light… you’re not going anywhere.
Agreed. With no quality trade suitors unless I’m missing something it seems inevitable he’ll re-join the team especially with the accumulating fines which he won’t be able to recoup. If he does, the team chemistry’s going to be interesting to say the least.
@jon
I think they need to make some rule changes, specifically and only for, teams with a highly paid player that’s demanded a trade. I don’t think the team should be forced to take on contracts of players they don’t want because of a player threatening to become a distraction.
So a player who really doesn’t want to be on a team signs a max contract to maximize his money and then decides he wants traded instead and you think there should be a way around it for the team trading the salary?
You are already stuck because the acquiring team isn’t going to have the cap space to take him on without sending contracts back, unless you want to bypass that too
@TJ
In a nutshell, yes. If I’m an owner and I have a player I want to build my franchise around and I reward them with the most money allowed and then, 1 year or 2 years later they decide they want to depart then I, the team owner thst signed him, shouldn’t be forced to either take back a bad contract OR take back a collection of rotation pieces to facilitate a trade. It’s not fair to that team owner. And I think there should be a penalty against that player too.If it’s a multi yesr deal then they should lose 1 year and salary from the contract.
You should have known who the player was when you offered the contract. And it was fairly obvious at the time. The problem isn’t the odd player asking out, or even his team vastly overvaluing him, which is clearly what is going on here. The problem is the CBA leaves team essentially no option but to sign very good young veterans at the end of their rookie deals to max or near-max contracts. Anything else is considered an insult. That needs to change.
Btw, the execs who are hoping the Sixers destroy their season by not giving in are … hoping the Sixers destory their season. And don’t have the assets to make the deal themselves.
This deal should have been made in Summer, and the Sixers blew it by over-asking. They could have gotten a pretty decent return, but that’s not available during pre-season when teams are setting their rotations in place and there’s no one left on the market to fill in holes.
On the flip side if I am a player and my team tries to trade me quite publicly and shows a desire to find a better fitting player or whatever other term. Then I don’t find it unreasonable that said player would decide you know what maybe a trade is in my best interest. The team holds all of the cards and the player should just suck it up and deal with it until it happens again. Yeah, I can see why a player would desire to play for another city/team after that.
Then every player should be offended because teams are always willing to trade anyone for the right offer. It was naive to think the Sixers and Simmons were somehow exempt from the sport of basketball.
Well not only did they try to trade him, the coach and other star player spoke very poorly of him and basically stated that Simmons time in Philly has run its course. Why would we continue to want to play there? If the coach and Embid don’t want him there and talk poorly about him, its time for him to move on. I’d do the same if my boss and coworkers start telling everyone at the office they don’t want to work with me anymore.
Change the rules to where to get the trade, the max player must fulfill the years left on the contract at a rate of 50% and that’s the number used as the basis for any contracts going forward (in regards to max raises, etc.). As to cap relief, etc., trading team needs to take back 85% (or some negotiated %) of the max deal in contracts. The team he’s traded to gets it at 100% of the max contract rate (treats it like a normal trade).
It effects the return you negotiate, where you can ask for more when taking on negative assets, and you dont have to make that trade if another one is out there. Also in super star sweeps teams that dont have bad contracts want the player. Look at NOP return for AD picks and good young contracts.
No team trading away a player is ever forced (by any rule in the CBA) to take back a bad contract. It’s the team acquiring the player that has an obligation to jettison a certain amount of salary. They need not send those players to the team sending them the star player. Are you suggesting that the acquiring team be relieved of this obligation cap-wise? tax-wise?
The Sixers, for example, could easily send Simmons away and take back only expiring deals or even taking back zero money. Obviously, that might affect their net yield in other assets. But it should. The bigger issue for them is that even if Simmons were traded away with zero money coming back, they still wouldn’t have cap space (to resign other guys).
Houston was not forced to rebuild. They had the option of getting two younger high end starters in Allen and LeVert, but choose a extra draft pick and an expiring contract instead.
Rule changes matter only if the parties (teams and players) play by the rules. Enforcing one’s rights, and acknowledging one’s obligations. That hasn’t happened in awhile. Maybe the Sixers will finally say enough is enough.
@DXC
In the real world teams are often faced with either or a) take back a bad contract with picks perhaps or b) multiple players and picks. Why is this hard to imagine? We see it playing out now. Most teams looking to add Simmons are teams unwilling to trade a star player currently on their roster unless it’s a player with diminishing skills and an upside down contract. Or they get offered pieces. I don’t think that’s fair to a team operating with a gun to their heads. If Morey was offered Halleburtin and picks or Sexton and picks or LaVert and picks then maybe this is wrapped up weeks ago. Give the acquiring team 1 year to get back under the cap but they assume the difference in salary.
All’s fair in professional sports. The metaphorical “gun to the head” is what every team looks for and tries to take advantage of. Sixers partially blew this and partially it’s just terrible luck. But that will be some other team’s gain (although Simmons isn’t really that good), and such is life. It’s life in every other pro sport too. Just look at what’s going on in European soccer as teams are forced to sell stars for pennies on the dollar to the few teams that have money. Or what happens every year to baseball teams that are forced to take terrible returns for superstars because otherwise they’ll lose them for nothing or because they’ve requested a trade.
C’est la vie.
No, actually, what you suggest is a “problem” is not playing out, nor has it ever played out. Can you name even one team that was forced (practically or otherwise) to add a bad contract due a player’s trade demand? The one attempt you made – HOU – was an instance of the opposite. They had a choice of good young vet contracts and picks OR expiring deals and more picks. PHI was already turned down (supposedly) an offer of Brogden, an expiring and picks.
You’ve crafted a convoluted solution to a problem that doesn’t exist, and now have to search for it. Believe what you like, but don’t hold your breath waiting for any party to the CBA to even want what you’re suggesting or otherwise have any interest in helping facilitating player trade demands or teams responding to them.
@Dxc
That appears to be the case with Sixers. Interested teams aren’t offering comparable talent but comparable salaries. Why don’t you get this? The rule says unless your way under the salary cap, which most teams trying to win now aren’t, you must take back matching salary. Why should the Sixers jump on that? No one is giving up a star caliber player making $30+ mil. Bad contracts and picks or role players and picks. Yummy yum
KnicksFanCavsFan –
Yes teams are not offering comparable talent, and that’s the Sixers’ problem with these offers. Not that the other teams are including bad contracts in the mix (they’re not, at least not in offers published so far, as all the players in these offers could easily be spun off with giving up assets to do it.
Sixers are not getting comparable offers, and won’t regardless of whether the other teams have to send out matching contracts. In truth, the Sixers are no different than any other team that waits to make a trade of a star until the star demands a trade. No team will EVER get comparable value in that situation, particularly when the situation arises after the FA period.
In the real world, people don’t get paid $40m for dribbling and passing.
I think what makes this situation unique isn’t so much the salary as much as the 6ers are still trying to contend.
Usually when a star demands out (AD, Harden, et al) the team trading him is going back into rebuild mode, so taking on toxic contracts isn’t a huge deal as long as they’re attached to future assets.
The Simmons situation basically requires Philly to find a trade partner that:
A) has a disgruntled star
and B) isn’t going into a rebuild.
I like what the sixers have done here. He signed the deal, u don’t have to give in and take back a lopsided trade.
And the rest of the league will thank them. Especially the part about a potential Eastern Conference champion blowing up its own season intentionally. They REALLY like that.
Not really sure were u are going with this. If they trade Ben and get back a lesser return(they aren’t title contenders) if Ben doesn’t improve his game(they aren’t title contenders). So either way they aren’t title contenders.
@13Morgs13 Dumb fans of teams that want Ben Simmons say this crap. They want the 76ers to trade Ben to them for peanuts and they’re getting mad at the 76ers/Morey because it’s ain’t happening. Like you said, them other scenarios don’t help the 76ers… This is the best plan for the 76ers if they’re not getting good offers. There’s no where to go but up.
Yep and the other thing is, Ben signed the deal. He is under contract. If he doesn’t report he doesn’t get paid. Even the nba players union didn’t have Ben back in this. Just face it, Ben got bad advice from Klutch sports. End of it period. Sixers did what’s right for the franchise
Wondering if Morey called the warriors asking about Poole in a deal after last night? Poole has been averaging around 20 points a game since All star break last year.
It’s the preseason. He played primarily against reserves from what I can gather from the box score. Let’s calm down. Like kuminga’s one good game in the summer league. Let’s relax. Wait to see what happens against the A squad. I guarantee morey didn’t change his demands because of poole’s good preseason game…assuming you were implying a simmons deal
He filled in for Steph for a stretch last year and looked almost as good as last night.
Im not saying he is trash, but to say he would be a centerpiece to a Simmons deal is extremely premature…assumptions made by the OP suggesting morey was calling
I didn’t say a center piece but you assumed. Wiggins would be the centerpiece in any Simmons trade with a couple players or draft picks thrown in to entice the sixers.
Wiggins is the salary piece…if he is the centerpiece then that is a bad trade.
Right now Simmons value is way way low. Teams are not offering very much for him or he would have been traded by now. You are not going to get any all star for him right now.
I would rather trade for nothing and have Simmons sit on the bench then trade for a player on a bad contract that does nothing to solve the problems for the Sixers. Wiggins does nothing for the Sixers. They will need a starting PG in any trade they make involving Simmons since the draft/free agency have passed. Wiggins has zero value around the league, so if the Sixers acquire him they won’t be able to flip him for an actual need. So, IMO, they are better off having an asset with perceived low value vs an asset with zero or negative value
Poole is the next Curry.
Seth, dell, or Michael?
Not Curry but but his potential could be a Chris paul like player if everything goes right.
So he is a first ballot HOFer?
Nah he’s gonna be a good role player but never even a all star candidate! This is like tht and Terrance man are gonna be superstars level of absurd lol
Tim
Green Curry
Ugh. I’ll bite (again): Sacramento could trade Hield and Halliburton (or Davion Mitchell) for Simmons.
Fox + Ben + Holmes could become a playoff team?
Philly gets a quality back court with needed shooting.
If the sixers could do that trade I think they already would, Halliburton is the kind of upside talent they’re looking for.
I don’t think teams are offering much in terms of value to the sixers, and the sixers are content on watching Simmons ruin his career. No team will want to sign him to another long term contract again if he keeps this up.
Huge package, no ones beating that. But is it on the table?
Perhaps, not. But I bet they could get Hield + Bagley + 1 first, and maybe it’s time they should settle for that.
Or…maybe they shouldn’t settle for that
There’s not a top 10 player or even top 15 player that’s gonna be on the table for Ben a, no rams no beal no any all nba players!
If Sacramento can get that offer – Hield, Bagley and a First – they take it immediately
That’s what she said.
Sacto won’t do that. They even said so publicly. Fox and Halliburton are out completely, and I’d guess the best they’d consider is Hield, Mitchell and salary filler, although frankly I’d guess they’d turn that down, too.
Fair’s fair. He does NOT have to play and the team does NOT have to pay him or trade him.
That said he’s only got a limited span of years to play and earn money and the team doesn’t benefit from holding his contract if he won’t play.
Fining him is not “not paying” him though.
76ers franchise just poverty from top to bottom lol
Philly is a unique situation. Trading Simmons will do nothing to their financial situation. If they trade him for $0 they are still over the cap and won’t have any room to sign free agents. So I think the Sixers best move is to hold until you get a deal that makes you as good or better than you are now. Adding rotational fodder isn’t going to change anything. Saddling yourself with a worse contract than Simmons is also pointless.
Lockout or Non-guaranteed Contracts coming to the NBA next CBA.
How does fining him make him more appealing to other teams? I don’t get it. It’s just pettiness and wanting him to play by any means necessary. He’s vaxxed, this is a joke.
He’s trying to force his way out in year 2 of a 5 year contract based on some “mean words” people said about him, is that not petty? You have a guaranteed $150 million and you are salty because, in the heat of the moment, Doc said he didn’t know if they could win a title with you as the point guard? Or because Embiid said the obvious, that the momentum shifted when the dunk was passed up for a missed shot that resulted in only 1 free throw? Neither one of those comments is so egregious that this situation is warranted. Ben is softer than my dumps the day after I drink a case of PBRs, Morey is as stubborn as the place where that dump came out of.
Simmons has clearly overplayed his hand, but the Sixers should not turn this into a pissing contest, because Simmons’ value is certainly not going to rise anytime soon. Just trade him for the best possible package and move on. Others have been there, have done that (Cleveland with Irving, San Antonio with Kawhi, Houston with Harden…). The longer they wait, the worse return they will get.
The Sixers are running their team into the ground, and everyone is blaming Simmons for it. By now it’s painfully obvious that trusting the process didn’t work, despite how well Embiid has been playing and the team getting the #1 seed last season. Things won’t get any better for one of the worst run teams in the NBA, even after they eventually part ways with Simmons on a bad trade. It’s only a matter of time before Embiid does the exact same thing once he’s sick and tired of playing for such a dysfunctional franchise.
Nah the longer they wait the chances increase for a greater return. As of now there are really only 6ish teams that have assets and salary to be in legitimate trade offers. By the time Neely signed free agents are able to be traded more options become available. Not sure if Ben will show up, I kind of doubt it…but, By December teams will begin to discover who is a contender and who is a pretender that needs to make a move. So I think the prudent course is to fine hon and hope he shows up before that…I will be surprised if he is traded before the season…but time will tell
Perhaps you are right, but no team in the same situation has played it that way in the last few years. All the examples I put in my previous post (Kawhi, Irving, Harden) got somewhat underwhelming returns, but their old teams didn’t try to wait and see. (AD’s case was different, as the situation exploded in the middle of the season).
all players in your scenario were also eligible to become free agents within a year plus. Ben is locked up for four more. That is a huge difference.
There’s literally no chance of that, unless they wait until next off-season. Then there might be some more takers. But that just ain’t gonna happen. No free agent would ever sign in Philly again. Players talk to each other, and I bet Simmons has a story to tell.
@seamaholic Free agents will go where the money is. There’s a lot of former NBA players calling Simmons out. You don’t think there’s current ones that don’t agree with Simmons but just ain’t saying anything?
The only free agents Philly might have trouble signing is, Rich Paul players and honestly, that’s probably a good thing.
@SportsBum
I promise you, Paul isn’t holding grudges at Philly for this. This is the LAST thing Paul wanted to do Get caught up in some bull for a player already under contract for the next 4 years. What is there for him to gain other than bad press. He’s simply riding for his client doing as told.
Paul may have advised to sign the extension and then force his way out later if need be. That gives him some blame in the bigger picture, until a new CBA is negotiated.
Has anyone actually seen a pissing contest?
Simmons to Houston for Wall, Tate Jr, and future(potential 2023 pick) first round (doubt it is possible with salary of wall vs Salary of Simmons).
That’s about right. Something like that. Wouldn’t be terrible for the Sixers either. Wall is now underrated and would fit in nicely with Embiid.
Yes, keep fining him. Dont trade him. I am sure a magical team will come up and trade you Michael Jordan, Lebron James and Bill Russell in their primes bc that is what Ben Simmons was hyped to be by the Sixers. So please keep waiting.
Says everyone in the East.
Please keep wasting Embiid’s most productive years. That is exactly what the Sixers should do.
Ever since the Process started the Sixers have screwed up every time they had a chance, Fultz, Burner Gate, Jimmy Butler, and now Simmons.
I am wondering what the date the Sixers are willing to wait for when they just call it a year.
BTW, If he is selling his house, he is never coming back. I wonder if Philly will trade him if he Tanks the season, just like they tanked their season to get him.
That would certainly be Simmons next move if they somehow manage to force him to report. Believe me, Sixers fans should not want him to give in.
These dumb takes make no sense. Embiid’s years are also wasted if they trade him for pennies on the dollar. What Morey is doing is actually the best option to try to stop Embiid’s years from being wasted
@credit
If Ben were injured and missed the first 3 months of the season, would you be saying the same thing? Probably not. Relax. as long as they’re are a top 5 team they’ll be able to figure things out.
Is Phillys year already over?
Does anyone really believe that Simmons will play hard for Philly if he is forced to come back bc of fines?
This gets better and better each day. Keep it up Philly.
Even without Simmons they are still a playoff team, so I wouldn’t say their season is over. Sure they won’t be title contenders, but they won’t be contenders with the packages being offered for Simmons either.
I think the easy solution to this is not pay a person 33m a year to play basketball. Pretty simple.
User name checks out.
The Mets are willing to throw in Bobby Bonilla’s contract to make the money work.
Philly have likely hurt their season already. It’s really poor leadership and management. They should’ve known as soon as this went public that they won’t get equal talent in exchange for Ben. They should’ve known 5 minutes after Docs last playoff press conference that he needed to be traded immediately. Now there’s no way he will play for them, and they can’t use the cap space while he sits. They are just making it worse. The fines are nothing to him. He’ll make over 10 million this year even if he doesn’t play. If someone doesn’t want to work for you, you let them go. It does you more harm keeping someone trapped. That’s the same in any work place. If you disagree, then you don’t understand how to run a business or how important culture is.
Trade him/don’t trade him… none of it matters as long as Glenn and Joel (not Ben and Joel – that wasn’t gonna work either) are the centerpiece of the team. They’ll win regular season games. That’s about it.
I’m so tired of hearing about the poor 76ers. Plain and simple, they had SEVERAL YEARS to make this work, between Embiid and Simmons, they didn’t.
They knew Ben had a problem shooting the ball, from Day 1 they should have hired one of the better shooting coaches, got Ben a sports psychologist, and forced him to shoot during his rookie years to get rid of that mental block he’s got.
Instead, they they just let the problem get worse and worse, ultimately getting so bad they alienated their All-World talent, and thrown down the drain several years of title contention they could have given to themselves, Simmons and Embiid, and their fans. Instead of admitting their failures, they placed all their blame on Simmons, and they used him as their scapegoat.
Now, I’m not saying this problem was solely on Philidelphia, their ownership, their coaching, and their management, Simmons is to blame as well. However, it is their job to put this young man in the best position to succeed, it was their job to get him the best coaching, it was their job to help develop his talent…
The 76ers failed Ben Simmons plain and simple, and in turn, they failed Joel Embiid and their fans!!
You clearly do not follow the sixers. They have tried for years to get Simmons to work with a shooting coach. They had drew Hanlen come in to work with the team. Fultz reinvented his shot with him when he had the yips. They had plannedJohn Townsend come in and work with Simmons… but him and his agent decided that Ben’s brother was the best choice for shooting coach.
Brett brown said he wanted Simmons shooting at least one three per game, did Simmons do it? The fans would erupt with cheers every time he took a jump shot regardless of whether it went in. The team and the fans did nothing but try to support him and make him a better player. He chose to do his own thing
Literally no one was putting all the blame on Simmons. The media took this narrative and ran with it.
I, on the other hand, can’t get enough of this stuff.
Feed me, Seymour.
#FreeBenSimmons
Oh sh-t, Simmons for Spears straight up.