Sixers' Joel Embiid Talks Trade Rumors Involving Ben Simmons, James Harden
When will the Philadelphia 76ers trade rumors go away? Until James Harden finally finds his way out of Houston. Until then, the Sixers will find themselves linked to the rumors as long as former Rockets general manager Daryl Morey runs the front office in Philly.
While the Sixers continue to deny having any involvement with talking about trading for Harden by using the 24-year-old guard Ben Simmons, the rumors alone could still serve as a distraction. Fortunately for Philly, head coach Doc Rivers believes Simmons is mentally tough enough to handle it after talking to him last week.
"I always just call a player to check on him and get a read on where he's at," Rivers said last Friday as rumors continued to swirl. "I feel very good about [my conversation with Ben]. You know, I would just move forward from it."
Unfortunately, it's not that easy. As Harden and Houston's relationship continues to deteriorate, and the Rockets fail to find any legitimate trade partners, the rumors involving the Sixers and several other organizations won't disappear.
On Tuesday, Ben Simmons addressed the situation and made it clear he isn't letting the reports affect his game. "I come in every day, take it one day at a time, ready to work," the All-Star said. "I'm with my teammates every day I wake up; every time I got a Sixers uniform on, I'm representing the Sixers. My mentality never changes. I'm here to win a championship. That goal is never going to change."
A few minutes after addressing the circumstances himself, Simmons' teammate Joel Embiid touched on the trade rumors and reassured everybody that all of the outside noise won't impact the Sixers at all.
"We're not focused on that," Embiid claimed. "We're focused on how we can get better as a team. We got a great opportunity to go out and compete for the whole thing. That's what we're focused on. All of the outside noise, we can't control it. You gotta control whatever you can. Like I said, we want to win the whole thing, and that's what we intend to push ourselves to do."
On Wednesday, the Sixers face off against the Washington Wizards for the 2020-2021 season-opener. As it stands, the 76ers will have Embiid and Simmons as the two faces of the team. While that could change at some point later on down the line, both veterans aren't going to worry about trying to guess the future. For now, they are both focused on the task at hand -- winning a championship for the 76ers.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_
