Winning without Simmons certainly makes it easier for Embiid to adopt that stance … and Philadelphia will be going for its 11th victory in 13 games Monday afternoon at Washington on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Perhaps he has also been sold on a concept that executives with a growing number of rival teams say they see as Morey’s new preferred scenario: Keeping Simmons beyond the trade deadline to exhaust every last possibility for executing a complicated sign-and-trade in the offseason that finally brings James Harden to Philadelphia and routes Simmons to Brooklyn. – via Marc Stein @ marcstein.substack.com
The Philadelphia 76ers guard is reportedly “open” to sitting out for the entire 2021-22 season despite the fines he’s racking up, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. “I think the sense is, if it takes the entire season to trade him, if it takes all year for the Sixers to find a trade that’s acceptable for them, he’s prepared for that,” Shelburne said Monday on NBA Today. – via Erin Walsh @ Bleacher Report
