NBA Rumors: Philadelphia 76ers Cannot Give In To Ben Simmons' Demands, Says NBA Executive

The Ben Simmons saga seems to have no end, but an NBA executive believes that the Philadelphia 76ers cannot give in to Simmons’ trade demands.

As Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated reported, an anonymous Eastern Conference team executive said that if 76ers management were to cave into Simmons’ demands, it would not be a good look for the league.

“[Expletive] that,” said the NBA executive.

“You let a guy force his way out with four years left on a max contract and you set a terrible precedent. They [76ers] can’t cave.”

ESPN insider Brian Windhorst noted earlier in the week that the Indiana Pacers were a sleeper candidate in landing Simmons, not because of their players, but because of their assets.

“I know that they [Pacers] don’t have an All-NBA player to trade, I realize that. But they have a bunch of really good players and, as Bobby Marks [mentions], they control all of their picks," Windhorst stated.

“That is not like the Portland Trail Blazers, they don’t control [their picks]. With as much talent as they [Pacers] have and as much money as they’re spending, I still think they’re just in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference.”

The feud between the player and upper management continues to escalate after Simmons decided to no-show the team’s preseason opener against the Toronto Raptors.

Their plan now is to keep fining Simmons until he suits up.

On October 1, the 76ers decided to take 25% of his salary away--around $8.25 million--and put it in an escrow account.

For each game that Simmons will decide not to appear in, that is an automatic deduction of $360,000 from said account, according to ESPN.

The amount of money that the three-time NBA All-Star loses during his holdout will not be recoverable as per the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, which was noted by Mannix.

In this case, the 76ers hold all the cards in their hands and it will be up to Simmons to make the decision to either play or continue to bleed out money in the hopes that he gets traded.