While the Philadelphia 76ers’ decision to deal Ben Simmons to the Brooklyn Nets got all of the attention after the NBA Trade Deadline, one tidbit went largely unnoticed.
Simmons wasn’t going alone. Also accompanying him would be one of his former Philly teammates, Seth Curry.
This week, during an episode of his podcast, 76ers swingman Danny Green suggested that the relationship between Simmons and Curry wasn’t “cordial” and it would be interesting to see how that dynamic unfolded in Brooklyn.
A few days later, Curry attempted to get to the bottom of things as far as his relationship with Simmons.
“Business is business,” said. “I said from day [one], even when he was out early in the season, people were asking me if I feel like, if Ben comes back, should he apologize to us or whatever? I understand the business; he doesn’t need to apologize to anybody.
“When he’s on the court, I know he’s going to do his job and he’s going to do what he does. So I understand the business. He was doing what he felt was best for himself business-wise and personal-wise.
“And the team’s going to do the same thing as far as making trades or whatever, so I understand it, I’ve been around it; I don’t take anything personal. When we’re on the court, we’re teammates. Everything’s fine. And we depend on each other to do good things. There’s been nothing negative he’s done to me personally, so I’m fine.”
Curry also responded specifically to Green.
“The relationship was fine,” Curry said. “He wasn’t around. So I don’t know what [Green] meant by that. ‘Wasn’t cordial,’ I don’t know what that means, but the relationship was fine. He just wasn’t around so we didn’t see him a lot or we didn’t talk a lot. But as far as now, he’s on my [team].
“I went to battle with him last year, we did a lot of good stuff and I’m going to go to war with who I’m going to go to war with and who’s on my team, so I’m looking forward to getting back out there with him and doing good stuff.”
Now that’s how you do a bachelorette party.https://t.co/a6brFTVOc0
— Game 7 (@game7__) February 25, 2022
The process of getting Simmons back into the basketball-playing fold is in full effect. Between Curry trying to make amends and Steve Nash’s blunt assessment of Simmons’ shooting woes – clearly the groundwork is being laid for Simmons’ return.
How will Simmons ultimately look when he takes the court for the Nets for the first time? An answer should emerge in the next few weeks.
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Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
