The Ben Simmons saga continues this NBA Offseason on the same day as new footage comes out with Simmons making three pointers, this afternoon ESPN NBA Analyst and former NBA Player Kendrick Perkins dropped this bomb on ESPN's daily NBA-centric show "The Jump":

“Ben Simmons is not answering the phone calls, he don’t want to be with the 76ers, and from what I heard, he’s willing not to report to training camp, and will go as long as it takes for him to get out of Philly. So I say where there’s smoke there’s fire.”

This comes a few days after NBA Report Jason Dumas reported that Ben Simmons has "cut off communication" with the Sixers organization and "everything is going through" his Agent Rich Paul.  That comes after NBA Writer Jake Fischer wrote at Bleacher Report that Sixers have been "unable to collaborate" with Simmons on a development plan for the offseason.  According to Philly Voice, team sources have given outright denials to these recent reports:

"We talked to Ben on his birthday a couple of days ago, we've been in touch with him throughout the summer," one source said. "We're going to send some training personnel out to see him this summer, too...we have good dialogue with Ben, his team, and his family."

Speculation has been swirling the last several weeks that the Ben Simmons era could be coming to an end in Philadelphia.  Just last week Bally Sports NBA Insider Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson reported that the Sixers are "extremely motivated" to get a deal done, potential a deal with the Warriors is in the works:

I have to agree with Kendrick Perkins: "Where there is smoke, there is fire" and I don't think it is a coincidence that all of these reports and speculation along with tons of rumors continue to come out over the last several weeks.  But we need to also ask" Who set this fire and who benefits from all this smoke

In the best interest of the Sixers organization and Ben Simmons future, a divorce may be the only outcome that benefits everyone involved.  The last 12 months has been a rollercoaster for the relationship between the organization and the First overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft: from the Knee Injury in the NBA Bubble to speculation that the 76ers were going to trade Simmons to Houston for James Harden to the very public display of Simmons' issues in the 2021 NBA Playoffs to the infamous meeting between the Sixers Front Office and Ben's agent Rich Paul about the future.

The evidence is mounting that a Ben Simmons trade is becoming more likely and both sides need to move on without each other because there is too much "Smoke" to act like there isn't a real issue here.  Remember this Woj Bomb just a couple weeks ago:

Sixers First-Round Picks Since 2000

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