Joel Embiid Addresses Report of Escalating Rift With Ben Simmons, Says Philly Fans 'Gotta Be Better'

Joel Embiid Addresses Report of Escalating Rift With Ben Simmons, Says Philly Fans 'Gotta Be Better'

Hours after USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt reported that the rift between Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid had been escalating, the Philadelphia Sixers superstar big man took to Twitter to address the matter.

“Sources “Trust me bro”!! Stop using my name to push people’s agendas,” he wrote in response to a tweet about Zillgitt’s USA Today article. “I love and hate drama. I love playing with Ben. Stats don’t lie. He’s an amazing player and we all didn’t get the job done. It’s on me personally. I hope everyone is back cuz we know we’re good enough to win.”

He went on to slam the media’s credibility, and called out Philly fans for booing him in the past. “From my own experience, y’all have no idea how much this media makes up stuff for followers and shame on you for believing them,” Embiid continued. “I haven’t forgotten but 2 years ago, I got booed, people in Philly wanted me to be traded. I even shushed them. Only the real ones didn’t but I just put the work in that offseason to be better cuz I knew I wasn’t playing up to my potential. Philly fans, y’all also gotta be better.”

Embiid’s comments arrive nearly a month after Jason Dumas of Philadelphia’s KRON4 News reported that Simmons had cut off all communication with the Sixers, and had even been ignoring Embiid’s phone calls.

“Ben Simmons has cut off communication with basically everyone in the Sixers organization,” Dumas tweeted in early August. “Everything is going thru his agent, Rich Paul. Ben is open to going to the GSWs though he doesn’t have much leverage in the situation.”

Speaking on 95.7 The Game at the time, Dumas said that the relationship between Simmons and the team is “getting worse by the day,” and is “beyond repair at this point.” As trade talks swirl around the 76ers star, Dumas claims that Simmons’ main concern is that he doesn’t want to end up in a “bad situation,” and is “open” to moving to one of the teams in California.

Dumas also reported that the relationship between Simmons and teammate Joel Embiid is also fractured. “Joel Embiid has reached out to him several times since then,” Dumas said. “And he hasn’t returned Joel Embiid’s phone calls.”

Stay tuned for more information as the Ben Simmons saga unfolds.