76ers' Joel Embiid Not Here to 'Babysit' Ben Simmons: 'Don't Care About That Man'

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid said he hasn't spoken with teammate Ben Simmons, who received a one-game suspension Tuesday for conduct detrimental to the team, since the point guard's return from his holdout.

"At the end of the day, our job is not to babysit somebody," Embiid told reporters. He added:

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Sixers head coach Doc Rivers tossed Simmons from Tuesday's practice because "he declined several times to sub into a drill."

"I thought he was a distraction today," Rivers told reporters afterward. "I didn't think he wanted to do what everyone else was doing."

The 25-year-old LSU product didn't report for the start of training camp while awaiting a potential trade that hasn't arrived.

Philadelphia responded by placing the $8.25 million owed to Simmons on Oct. 1 as part of his five-year, $177.2 million contract in an escrow account. The team deducted $360,000 from that account as a fine for each preseason game that he missed during the holdout, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks.

It eventually became clear that a trade wouldn't be finalized before the start of the regular season. Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Oct. 2 that teams weren't coming close to the Sixers' "lofty demands" despite continued interested around the NBA.

The three-time All-Star thus ended his holdout and reported to the team last Monday. However, a source warned Pompey not to expect Simmons at his best.

"They know that," the source told Pompey. "They've been known that. It doesn't matter whether Ben shows up here today or two weeks from now. He's going to be in street clothes, and you are not going to get the same Ben Simmons. So you might as well move on."

That quote sounds almost prophetic in hindsight following Simmons' suspension.

The two-time NBA All-Defensive first-team selection can still be an impactful two-way contributor, but it remains unclear whether his relationship with the Sixers is salvageable after he emerged as the scapegoat after the team's second-round playoff exit to the Atlanta Hawks last season.

Simmons scored only 19 combined points over the series' final three games and passed up a wide-open layup in the final minutes of Game 7, which Embiid considered the turning point of the season-ending loss.

The only short-term guarantee is the Sixers will take the floor against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night without one of their key players.

What happens beyond that in the Simmons saga is still a mystery.