Bill Simmons took a minute away from fellating Jayson Tatum to claim Joel Embiid wanted Bradley Beal over James Harden and “begrudgingly” accepted the Harden trade after Beal ruled himself out for the season:

Here is what Simmons said back in March, talking to Zach Lowe on his podcast:

This is what I’ve heard and I’ve had pretty good intel throughout this whole thing. This is what I was hearing in the moment: That Embiid really wanted Bradley Beal. And was pushing really hard for it and was talking to him all of the time, and was pushing, pushing, pushing. And part of the reason the trade stuff took so long was because there was the Sixers side that wanted Harden—obviously Daryl [Morey] because Harden is his guy. But Embiid really wanted Beal because he felt like he was a better fit and was pushing, pushing, pushing, but then Beal gets hurt. But then Embiid is still pushing. ‘No, no, no, Beal, Beal, Beal’ still working on him. And then Beal is like ‘I’m out’ and he gets surgery and that’s how we end up with the Harden situation.

It’s a big Brad Beal/James Harden day on the site. My hope for the Sixers future is in the gutter. I will never let myself be emotionally hurt again until a Sixers team makes the Eastern Conference Finals. But a sign-and-trade involving Harden and Beal is a good start. It probably lets the Sixers keep Tyrese Maxey. Beal can play the two where he can still iso off of dribble hand-offs and off-ball screens and run pick n rolls with Joel Embiid. Imagine a guy who can still get by their defender or hit stepbacks at an above-average clip. Everything we thought we were getting with Harden that turned out not to be true.

I wonder if Daryl Morey would trade his guy to the basketball equivalent of purgatory. Plus, Harden would have to agree to go. If you happen to come across this post Daryl, text this image to James. Look at all the strip clubs around Capital One Arena. Who’s going to say no to a five minute walk to the Cloakroom after dropping 22/9/8? You can’t have a club like Hot.com and not have the best WiFi in the industry. Archibald’s just sounds like pure class. If you don’t want class there’s no shot a neighborhood named the Golden Triangle has it. You could probably negotiate a Capital One Savor card for 5% cash back on dining in your deal:

via Google Maps

I can’t wait for Daryl to get this trade done and Bradley Beal trips falling off the jet and is out for the season. Being a Sixers fan has made me cynical.