Andrew Bogut on Ben Simmons: Drawn out Philapdelphia NBA trade mess hurting Aussie’s value

Andrew Bogut has been through the NBA trade ringer and he has some blunt advice for Ben Simmons, who is doing it all wrong.

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - JUNE 14: Ben Simmons #25 of the Philadelphia 76ers drives against Clint Capela #15 of the Atlanta Hawks during the first half of game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at State Farm Arena on June 14, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Ben Simmons hasn’t handled his trade standoff with Philadelphia professionally and Sixers fans may never forgive him.

Trades in the multimillion-dollar NBA world can be a complex beast and how you deal with the situation comes down to your personality, agency and your standing as a player.

A lot of NBA fans can get confused about trades, which was me as a young kid. I used to think: how the hell did they trade that guy for that guy? It makes no sense talent wise.

But you have to factor in salaries, teams clearing out your salary cap for a potential free agent the next off-season and teammates not getting along.

There are all kinds of shenanigans going on behind the scenes the average fan would have no idea about, but I still think there is a right way to handle a trade by being professional.

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There are players who do it the wrong way, which I think Ben is doing: by shutting it down, cruising through training, not wanting to be there and being bad culturally.

If I was advising Ben I would suggest for him to play and get on with it, but I’m not sure that will happen now.

Ben Simmons pictured at a 76ers training session.

Recent reports have now also had Rich Paul double down on Ben’s mental health and insinuating that Philly don’t care and just want him to play. Whether you agree or not, some people will question the timing of the mental health problems as another chess move to get himself out of there quickly.

Only Ben knows the truth.

A key test to that will be once Ben does get traded, will he immediately report and play?

I’ve seen guys who have asked for trades, and you wouldn’t know they’ve asked for one by the way they’ve handled themselves because they’ve been professionally daily.

Everyone does it differently, but in the end it all comes down to leverage and what you want. That is why we are seeing a pissing contest between Philly and Ben.

Ben Simmons and 76ers teammate Joel Embiid.

There are only a few teams that Ben wants to go to and there are other teams that Philly wants to deal with in a trade.

To complicate matters, Ben’s trade value is dwindling by the day.

As we get closer to the trade deadline, the pressure flips back to Philly because they are a championship-built roster with a championship-winning coach, but their championship window will close eventually.

So the 76ers need to trade Ben for a player that can help this roster win a championship. 

Only problem, the closer we get to the trade deadline, the value they’ll get for Ben will become lesser and lesser because rival teams know the pressure cooker is turning up on the 76ers.

Ben Simmons and Maya Jama pictured at Wimbledon.

Philadelphia president Daryl Morey said he is prepared to wait four years to get a quality player in return for Ben, but I don’t believe that for a second.

I think Daryl is trying to pour gas on Ben’s leverage. It’s all one big game.

knows that if he isn’t engaged and a good teammate until the point where they kick him out, then the 76ers have to pay him because they are the ones who sent him home.

That is just the chess game and you have to try and stay professional, but it is easier said than done. Ben probably thought he would have been traded in the off-season, and he wasn’t. He then thought, ‘Oh geez, I’ve got to go and see these guys now after we’ve had a war of words in the press all off-season.

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That is probably where Ben’s frustration catapulted into what he is doing, which I understand, but it still doesn’t excuse his behaviour by turning up to training with a phone in his pocket.

You have to handle it professionally by turning up and training hard for your own benefit. You don’t have to sit around and shoot pool with the guys if you don’t want to be there, but just do the bare minimum and be professional.

I only had one instance when I asked for a trade when I was in Milwaukee in 2012. I did it professionally behind the scenes and didn’t go public with it. And it ended up working out. My trajectory was going up before I injured my arm. And it was also about me progressing as a better player.

Andrew Bogut fears Ben Simmons’ trade value is dwindling.

Simmons has preferred teams for him to be traded to, but so do Philadelphia.

I just felt like Milwaukee was a very small market and it was a revolving door of a franchise. We’d have eight or nine new players every training camp, so I was always thinking: “How the hell are we supposed to build culture, camaraderie and teamwork with this many changes every year?”

We finally had a good year in 2009-2010 – the year I broke my arm – and we made the playoffs and played really well. Despite this success, the Bucks decided not to bring back the majority of the roster again and that really frustrated me.

Milwaukee tried to hit a home run with some signings and that is when we got Corey Maggette and Stephen Jackson, but it didn’t work out.

That is when I went to my management late in the 2011-2012 season. It was a lockout year, and we were 20 games in, and we started the year about .500.

That is when I told the Bucks ‘I think it is time to move on, I didn’t want to be part of these revolving-door rebuilds anymore’.

Milwaukee said I was “a top 10 big in the league and we are not going to get fair value back if we trade you right now, so there is no way we are doing it”.

That is when I had to talk to my manager about the next step. Do we go public?

But even now in hindsight, I don’t think I would have spoken to the media.

Amdrew Bogut has given an insight into the NBA trade market.

At the time, we just put pressure on the Bucks internally and then literally two weeks later I broke my ankle and I was out for the season. Our GM and coach were both in the hot seat and they thought, ‘Holy shit, I need to make a playoff run to save my job’.

So they made the home-run play and it ended up being a smart move because they got Monta Ellis for me.

I was out, anyway, and I got traded to Golden State when they were in the doldrums, but I was pumped. I just wanted a fresh new start in a new city.

There are different ways to handle a trade, but my agent was big on being professional and letting the situation run its course.

Who knows if I was at the Bucks for another month and I kept asking and I was getting no answer, maybe I would have said something publicly and got frustrated? That is what happens to some players, but for the most part the clubs are still paying you a big salary and you should honour that.

For more from AB check out The Rogue Bogues Podcast by Andrew Bogut.

Originally published as Andrew Bogut on Ben Simmons: Drawn out Philapdelphia NBA trade mess hurting Aussie’s value