Ramona Shelburne at ESPN dropped a Tuesday piece about Ben Simmons, titled The specter of this saga haunts Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers. It’s a good read. It’s more or less an update of sorts which reveals what Ben is currently doing, and fleshes out some previously-reported things about the current team vs. player schism.

This portion was probably the most relevant and worthy of sharing:

According to sources close to Simmons, he’s upset that Embiid seemed to blame him for last season’s playoff loss, when Simmons did not blame Embiid for Embiid’s poor showing in the playoffs against the Toronto Raptors in 2019. He’s frustrated that Rivers didn’t come to see him while he was training in Los Angeles last summer.

Simmons doesn’t dispute that he didn’t reply when Rivers texted and called him several times over the summer asking to see him. But in hindsight, Simmons feels Rivers and the Sixers could’ve done more, like show up at a well-known gym in the San Fernando Valley where he was training.

He’s also skeptical, sources close to him say, of Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey’s willingness to trade him because of his previous pursuit of (James) Harden — who can become a free agent this summer. Simmons would be the best player the Sixers would send in any theoretical trade. And he’s upset that the organization is fining him so heavily after he raised mental health as an issue upon his return.

Rich Paul, Simmons’ agent, had spent weeks in the fall trying to convince the three-time All Star to fly back to Philadelphia, as a show of good faith.

Well, this all seems like bullshit to me. There may be some valid annoyances in this whole saga, perhaps Ben feeling slighted by Doc’s post game comments after the Hawks series, but my takeaway from reading all of this is that he’s got thin skin and needs to just let this stuff roll. “Let it go,” like Queen Elsa said in the 2013 movie Frozen. A lot of these alleged complaints that Shelburne is reporting seem like nothing burgers, i.e. this is just part of the business. A GM might trade you? Welcome to the NBA. You took a disproportionate amount of blame for a playoff series loss? Welcome to professional sports. Doc Rivers didn’t fly across the country to see you? Who really cares?

There are more nuggets in the story, which I’ll share again right here at this link. Ben reportedly resumed working out at the team facility and got the COVID vaccination. Good tidbits throughout, though the more I read about this, the more I want it to be over. Please God, if you’re listening, make this end.