Joel Embiid Says Trading Jimmy Butler To Accommodate Ben Simmons Was A Mistake

It's no secret anymore that 76ers point guard Ben Simmons wants out of Philadelphia, but while Joel Embiid was planning on taking a jet out to convince his teammate to stay put, he was told not to bother. So that leads us to today where Embiid decided the time was now to explain how we got here.

He brought up how Jimmy Butler, who's now a star with the Miami Heat, was forced out of Philly to accommodate Simmons' need for the ball. He's probably not wrong after you hear what he had to say.

"We got rid of Jimmy, which I still think it was a mistake, just to make sure he needed the ball in his hands (Ben), and that’s the decision they made.”

First off, Ben Simmons needs the ball in his hands to be effective -- that can't be debated. Secondly, Jimmy Butler was far too alpha for the decisions that went down in Philadelphia. Get the ball out of Butler's hands to allow Ben Simmons to run an offense when he can't shoot the ball?

In March of 2020, Butler reminisced on his time in Philly where he said: "I didn't know who the f*** was in charge."

Well, now we know what he meant. Butler didn't understand who was anointing Ben Simmons as a hero for the future while Butler became the scapegoat. Jimmy Butler was instead made out to be the guy that couldn't stick with a team over his attitude. Now Simmons is forcing his way out of Philadelphia to prove, once again, what Embiid and Butler knew all along:

Investing in Ben Simmons was a major mistake. Glad the cat's out the bag. Now trade him for whatever you can get.