Ben Simmons would like to avoid playing for the Trail Blazers

After humiliating playoff losses for the Trail Blazers and Sixers, many NBA members have speculated that a CJ McCollum trade for Ben Simmons would benefit both franchises.

However, one party in particular doesn’t see it that way: Ben Simmons himself.

In a radio segment with 95.7 The Game in Philadelphia, Jason Dumas of Bleacher Report said the Sixers and Simmons relationship is “beyond repair” but client Klutch does not want to go to Portland.

“He doesn’t want to go into a bad situation,” Dumas said. “He reads the tea leaves. He sees Toronto, he sees Portland and then, being frankly the young socialite that he is, he’s not looking to go into either of those situations. He’s looking to go to the California teams. . ”

Dumas added that Simmons ignored calls from Joel Embiid and that all of his communications would go through his agent, Rich Paul.

Paul also represents Blazers center Jusuf Nurkić, who expressed frustration with his four-year, $ 48 million contract with a partial non-warranty last season.

“I have an unsecured one. I don’t know if I’ll be back. So I’ll leave that to Rich Paul, my agent,” Nurkiç said after being eliminated by Denver.

Simmons is still four years old with $ 33 million, $ 35 million, $ 37.8 million, and $ 40 million owed to him for each season. A pay to match him and McCollum this offseason would be easy, but a deal seems unlikely due to Neil Olshey’s reluctance to accept the hefty price tag asked by CJ and Daryl Morey.

Plus, it looks like Simmons doesn’t want to be a Blazer anyway. Given his contractual situation, however, he doesn’t have much to say about where he will play next year.