The "Ben Simmons Saga" is finally over, but how did we get here?

After almost 2 years of bickering, rumors, and holdouts, the “Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers saga” has finally come to a close.

The 3-time All-Star and the Sixers came to an agreement on Monday that would reportedly pay Simmons most of his allocated 2021-22 salary.

After a disappointing upset loss to the Atlanta Hawks in the 2021 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, in which Simmons most notably played terribly, passing up a wide-open dunk under the basket that would have put the Sixers ahead late in the 4th quarter. The 2017 Rookie of the year and his agent Rich Paul would call a meeting with Sixers President of basketball Ops Darryl Morey and General Manager Elton Brand to request a trade from Philadelphia.

Morey would remain adamant through the offseason that Simmons was not available, but as it became more and more apparent that Simmons would follow through on his threats to not show up to Sixers camp Morey became restless and the rumors began to swirl.

The trade market for Simmons would begin to pick up in late September as the Golden State Warriors were fined $50,000 dollars for violating the NBA’s Aint Tampering rules when attempting to contact Klutch Sports.

As the Offseason wound down the Simmons trade market continued to look bleaker by the day. Simmons would finally rejoin the team on October 19th but would be kicked out of practice and suspended 1 game for what the Sixers had called “conduct detrimental to the team”.

In a radio interview on 97.5 The Fanatic, President Darryl Morey would reiterate that the Sixers will not trade Simmons unless it is for a real difference maker, and “this could go on for 4 years”.

On October 22nd Simmons would announce that he is mentally unfit to play and will step away for his personal health. The Sixers would soon grow frustrated with Simmons’ refusal to accept team assistance in his mental health struggles.

After a November 5th win over the Detriot Pistons, the Sixers would announce that they would begin to withhold Simmons’ $360,000 game salary to him until he returned to the team.

Which of course, he never would…

The Next few months would prove to be relatively quiet, as the Sixers new core of Maxey and Embiid would begin to gel and the squad would jettison up the Eastern Conference standings, proving the mantra that they don’t need Simmons to win.

Finally, February, 10th, 2022, It would happen. Ben Simmons was traded to the Brooklyn Nets along with Seth Curry and Andre Drummond for James Harden.

A collective sigh of relief was let out across the Delaware Valley that day, the Ben Simmons saga was finally over…

Until it wasn’t.

On April 2nd, 2022, Just as the Sixers were preparing for a Saturday afternoon tilt vs the Charlotte Hornets at Wells Fargo Center. The news that Ben Simmons had filed a grievance for the withholding of his salary against the Sixers, would break.

Simmons and his agency; Klutch Sports led by Rich Paul would claim that the Sixers withheld the 2017-18 Rookie of year salary unjustly. They said in a statement that Simmons had been struggling with “Personal Mental Health Issues” along with a nagging back injury and could not physically participate in games.

Lo and Behold, earlier this week Simmons and Klutch Sports would walk away as the rumored winners of the grievance. Keep in mind these are rumors, both sides chose to not disclose the amount that was paid to Simmons. However multiple sources stated that Simmons walked away with a lump sum of $20 Million out of his previously withheld $33 Million dollars in salary.

Simmons has yet to play a game in a Brooklyn Nets uniform but was paid all of his salary during his time in the Big Apple. The Nets and Simmons have been adamant that All-Star Point Guard will be ready for opening night when the Nets take on the New Orleans Pelicans on October 19th. But with the futures of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving still undecided, it looks like Simmons is still far from out of the woods…