Danny Green 'Clears the Air' on Ben Simmons Refusing to Meet With Sixers
For roughly about a month now, the Sixers have been aware that their three-time All-Star guard Ben Simmons will not attend training camp on Tuesday. At this point, Simmons intends to remain out in Los Angeles as his teammates report to camp in Camden, New Jersey, this week as he refuses to suit up in Philly again.
Last month, several key members of the Sixers' organization reportedly flew out to Los Angeles to try and fix the team's relationship with the young star. Unfortunately, Simmons' mind couldn't be changed.
So members of the team attempted to give it a shot. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Sixers players were ready to travel to Los Angeles last week to meet with Simmons face to face. However, he told them not to come.
76ers veteran sharpshooter Danny Green confirmed the report on his podcast 'Inside the Green Room' with his co-host Harrison Sanford. With training camp just a day away, Green wanted to "clear the air" on the situation.
"He's in a state right now where he feels the city has turned on him and a lot of the organization turned on him," Green explained. "We wanted to let him know that we had his back, and we haven't turned on him. We're here, we believe in him, and we want him. I think he thought the organization was behind this. ... This has nothing to do with the organization -- it had to do with us. We just wanted to meet with him on a human being, friend level; if he still considers us friends, we don't know if that's the case yet or not."
Green, who admittedly hasn't talked to Simmons much this past summer, has yet to connect with the All-Star since he requested a trade back in August. While the 34-year-old had plans to sit down and speak with Simmons as a friend and not a teammate last week -- it seems Simmons isn't interested in having any conversations with most members of the Sixers as he's checked out on the organization, according to Shams Charania.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
