Daryl Morey’s handling of Ben Simmons is getting a fresh round of scrutiny, and ESPN’s new documentary on Simmons gives the former 76ers guard a chance to say plenty about how things unraveled in Philadelphia.
“Being Ben” premiered on Sunday and traces Simmons’ path through his NBA career so far. The hour-long film had been previewed back in September, and one of the biggest questions going in was whether it would reveal anything new about the breakdown between Simmons and the Sixers.
It does. Just not in the way a lot of people probably expected.
Nobody is asking Simmons to walk away clean. If Sixers fans believe he didn’t own enough of his mistakes, didn’t put in the work where he needed to, and let key relationships drift, that frustration is fair. But the documentary also puts a spotlight on another part of the story that didn’t draw enough attention in Philadelphia: Morey’s approach.
Before Morey arrived, Elton Brand gave Simmons a five-year contract that clearly framed him as a franchise piece alongside Joel Embiid. Then Morey came in and immediately pushed to flip Simmons for James Harden. Brooklyn ended up with Harden after the Houston Rockets sent him there, and Simmons was left with a very public message about where he stood.
That kind of move, in a video game, is one thing. In real life, it lands differently.
It tells a player exactly how the decision-maker sees him. When the person running basketball operations is actively trying to move you, confidence doesn’t exactly bloom from that.
Simmons put it plainly in the documentary.
"I'm not dumb, I'm a smart guy, I know what's going on," Simmons said in the documentary, discussing Daryl Morey. "You're trying to set this up, you're trying to make every bad decision I've made in the game, and turn it into something else.
That's just what it is, but like, at the end of the day, I've made more great plays than bad plays. ... If you don't want me there, then I'm gone."
He also made clear that Harden isn’t the guy he has a problem with. There was no direct mention of Embiid, even though the split there was obvious at one point.
Simmons did touch on Doc Rivers, especially around Rivers’ rough answer about him in the final press conference after the Hawks series in 2021, but that issue was tied to that moment and what followed. With Morey, Simmons says the frustration started immediately and never really stopped.
"It was never like I never wanted to be in Philly," Simmons added. "Somebody had come in--obviously, was trying to get me out--made promises to James.
Obviously, James and him don't have... I don't believe they have a relationship anymore now, but that's just the business.
There's some good guys in there, and some bad guys. People you can't trust.
There's some snakes, and I think he's one of them."
There’s no question that, in hindsight, moving Simmons turned out to be the right basketball decision. Injuries followed, and he never got back to the level he had shown in Philadelphia during his time with the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Even so, the early damage to the relationship still stands out. Morey didn’t take nearly enough criticism for the way he handled that situation from the start.
It wasn’t until James Harden publicly called him a liar that the heat really started building around how he managed the stars in the building. Even then, it took time for the Sixers to fully absorb what that approach could cost them.
Three years later, after the Harden mess, Joel Embiid also called him out, and Morey’s job security fell to zero after the 2026 playoffs.
Now the organization is moving on. The 76ers have Mike Gansey running the front office for this season and beyond. Simmons, meanwhile, is getting another reset of his own after taking a year away and landing with the Sacramento Kings, where he is expected to start in 2026.
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