What do you do when someone doesn't accept your phone calls? What do you do when that person is a star NBA player who is getting millions of dollars to play for you?

That's the issue the Philadelphia 76ers are dealing with. According to Jake Fischer, the team hasn't been able to get ahold of Simmons since the season ended. For anyone who doubted that Simmons and Philly would soon be parting ways, this is definitive proof that things are quickly eroding.

«I'm not gonna write this in the story, but I'll tell this to you guys and you guys can do what you want with it,» said NBA insider Jake Fischer during a recent podcast appearance. «They haven't been able to really even get in touch with Ben since the season ended. Like, there was an intent to have a workout plan or whatever — like in any offseason. That's always kind of been the case, that the Sixers haven't been able to align with a development plan [for Ben] — that's kind of what Yaron Weitzman wrote at Fox Sports in that big story. It just doesn't sound like there's ever been movement to come together on the same page to do that, and it hasn't really worked this summer either. I think that's not something that's an encouraging sign for him being in Philadelphia in the future.»

Simmons had a horrible postseason. His performance in the NBA playoffs earned derision and anger from Philly fans all over. Since then, a Simmons trade has seemed like a real possibility. Still, it's surprising to hear that the player hasn't even picked up the phone when his team has called. Obviously, both sides in this deal are looking to get away from one another. Or maybe Simmons is just on a vacation.


A conversation is eventually going to need to happen. It seems that Simmons leaving the 76ers is pretty much inevitable at this point but he needs to put his emotions aside and hear what they have to say, especially since they'll be paying for his plane ticket out of town.