During yet another offseason filled with questions, the Sixers find themselves in a position that may be one of the most confusing in the league. On paper, when healthy, the Sixers could be one of the top, if not the top, team in the conference and maybe even the league. The problem has been the health and availability of their biggest star, Joel Embiid, and last season, the prized free agent, Paul George.
“What could have gone better? What can I do better? There are quite a few things there.” Daryl Morey said during his end-of-season press conference. “I would say one of those things is [that] I was very focused on finding veteran-type players who generally perform very well in the playoffs, and I didn’t put enough emphasis on the team getting through the regular season. And so next season, for sure, we will be a younger, more dynamic group.”
What the Sixers lack right now is a strong power forward who can operate in the post but keep opposing defenses honest with mobility and spacing. The Sixers ended last season dead last in rebounding at 39.8 per game, which is unacceptable if you’re going to contend for a title.
The other issue facing the team, with possibly four high-value guards (should Quentin Grimes re-sign), is that the Sixers lack a true point guard. While Tyrese Maxey has done a good job when tasked, he’s a much better player without the ball, as are Grimes, Jared McCain, and first-round pick VJ Edgecombe.
With limited funds and limited players available, who could the Sixers turn to?
Since the Sixers year has taken the terms “crazy” and “unknown” to new heights, then why not look to the past, to bridge the gap, at least for one year and see where it takes you?
Enter Ben Simmon
Simmons may be the most polarizing figure in Sixers history. From missing his first season to glimpses of greatness and stability through the future, straight into injuries, missed time, and finally leaving the team. Simmons fell quickly out of favor with the fans and the team as he seemingly quit on the Sixers, under the perceived pressure that was too great for him to handle.
After missing his initial season with an injury, as most Sixers draft picks around that time were prone to do, Simmons spent the next four seasons averaging 15.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game while shooting 56% from the field and adding just under two steals per game. After those few years, the train went off the track, and we’re all aware of what cliff it ended up at the bottom of.
Four seasons later, Simmons is a free agent, and the Sixers just so happen to need a power forward who can rebound and play great defense. While he’s not scaring people with his outside shooting, the ball in Simmons’s hands would allow him to draw out other teams’ front-court players with his ability to pass and slash to the basket.
Would Simmons want to return?
Simmons himself confirmed his willingness to return to the City of Brotherly Love.
“I’ll always have love for Philly,” Simmons said in an interview with Marc Spears of Andscape. “People always ask me like, ‘If you were to get traded again where you want it to be?’ I always say, ‘Just Philly. Philly is a second home to me.’ And in time, you learn and grow as people. I don’t really have anything bad to say about Philly. It was a crazy situation at the end, but it is what it is.”
Where does this leave the Sixers?
Where does that leave the team for the 2025/26 season?
Well, they still need a quality power forward, they need rebounding, they need someone who’s comfortable with the ball and can make good passes. Simmons provides each one of those better than anyone out there right now and, when healthy and involved, he could still be one of the top at the position in the league.
Soon to be 29 years old, Simmons would be the answer to several questions that the team, despite its moves over the past couple of weeks, still has questions about. He would give the team an affordable power forward who can do way more than they’re being asked. Again, if he’s healthy and if he’s able to handle the pressure of a return.
Therein lies the big problem. If you were to throw out all of the off-court stuff while forgiving the player for what the team and its fans perceive that he’s caused, then Simmons is the best player to sign back with the Sixers. But you can’t count on him to be healthy. He’s appeared in only 108 out of a possible 328 games over the past four seasons, and while last season he appeared in 53 games across stints with the Nets and Clippers, he faded completely out of any rotation at the end of the Clippers’ season and their short playoff run.
Philly loves a good comeback story and Simmons would represent one of, if not the absolute, biggest one in the team’s history. If he were to succeed. But, the bad taste that was left in fan’s mouths upon his departure is probably too much to handle for the fans and the team.
It shows just how far the Sixers have fallen in just one short season that the optimism of the future with several quality young players, tied to the seemingly horrible contracts of its two oldest and most talented but often injured stars, that the team could actually add a piece like Simmons and it would truly benefit them.
For now, the team is best suited to figuring out their rotation based on players like Johni Broome, Adem Bona, and recently signed Trendon Watford. Moving forward with a vision that they’ve set out at the end of the season to improve their team while becoming younger and more athletic.
For Ben Simmons, he was buried in the minds of the team and its fans, before he was even sent to the Nets for James Harden and it’s best that they let him remain a distant memory.
