thelesterlee
Ben Simmons is never playing for the Philadelphia 76ers again.
He had a mental breakdown in the playoffs leading his teammates and head coach to question his abilities. Of course he wants to be traded from a toxic work environment where he told the team he’s struggling with mental illness and the team demanded they see their in-house doctor.
In what universe does your job CAUSE mental health issues and then force you to see their mental health doctors.
That man is gone.
But after his stinker in the playoffs, it’s hard for another team to feel good about giving the Sixers an All-Star in return for the guy who was too shook to take an easy layup over the 4-foot tall Trae Young.
Meaning, Philly is going to need to sweeten the deal with young players and/or draft capital.
Enter Tyrese Maxey.
Tyrese Maxey is cookin’ pic.twitter.com/7WwF8RSIex
— Jackson Frank (@jackfrank_jjf) November 10, 2021
In a Tuesday night loss to the Milwaukee Bucks with half of the roster out with Covid, Maxey decided to put the team on his back real quick.
Here’s the statline Maxey recorded against the defending world champs:
- 31 points
- 12-for-24 shooting
- 4-for-9 from 3
- 5 rebounds
- 4 assists
- 1 steal
- 1 block
No Embiid? No Simmons? No Tobias? Maxey time.
This progression in the second-year point guard might be the key to moving on from the Ben Simmons era. Simmons and Maxey are friends and are both represented by Adele’s bae.
Packaging the two players together in exchange for an All-Star to pair alongside Joel Embiid is going to get easier if Maxey continues to prove he is capable of producing these offensive onslaughts.
There are rumors that Boston has called about Ben Simmons after Marcus Smart dropped a grenade in the locker room. If Maxey is turning into a true 20 point scorer then perhaps Brad Stevens would feel better about giving away Jaylen Brown.
Tyrese Maxey, Ben Simmons and Jayson Tatum would for sure raise the Celtics’s ceiling this season. They’d have a better point guard than Marcus Smart and a top 10 passer with Simmons along with one of the best perimeter defenders.
Does a Jaylen Brown/Joel Embiid tandem win the East? I don’t know. But we know Brown will actually show up to practice and won’t have his phone in his pocket.
