Report: Ben Simmons asked for trade ‘right after’ 2020-21 season ended

Slow news week, right?

We have yet another report surrounding the elephant in the room that is the Ben Simmons trade saga. This one comes from the Bucks County Courier Times’ Tom Moore, who shed some more light on the background on how things have transpired.

The first half of this report is telling of what the Sixers are trying to do: get Simmons back in a Sixers uniform. From an outside perspective, that appears to be the case, at least in the short term in an effort to ease tensions. There’s reportedly no realistic deals out there that the Sixers are willing to do — yet.

The most interesting part of this report comes in the second half of the tweet, which really sheds some light on when exactly key events transpired to get to the point (or misery) where we are now. Simmons allegedly requested a trade back in Chicago during the Sixers’ meeting between him, his agent, and key personnel with the team. Keep in mind, this all happened back in late June 2021 during the NBA draft combine.

This meeting took place on June 24, just four days after the Atlanta Hawks eliminated the Sixers in Game 7. Meaning Simmons requested a trade just days after that series.

As time goes on, more and more light is shed on just how rapid things have fallen apart between Simmons and the Sixers. This report confirms that it happened much quicker than some might have thought.

The true intentions of the meeting can be speculated against, but my personal guess would be that it was a silent trade request at the time. Meaning that Simmons’ camp told the Sixers he would like out, and that the team agreed to accommodate him as long as things were kept civil and quiet. Obviously things have dragged out for awhile, which has led to some impatience. We are almost three months removed from this specific meeting and all signs point to Simmons being a Sixer for the start of the 2021-22 NBA season.

This is just one report from what has been a media storm in the past two days alone, and we are less than a week away from the Sixers’ media day where it’s expected that the team will address the situation going forward. All of these details and reports are hard to keep up with, so make sure you’re tuned into Liberty Ballers’ thread which constantly updates you with all things surrounding the Simmons trade saga.