It has been 104 days since the 76ers lost in Game 7 in front of a packed Wells Fargo Center to the young and hungry Atlanta Hawks. 103 days since Philadelphia as a whole agreed that Ben Simmons had overstayed his welcome in this city. The “once in a generation talent” and promising young star we drafted has disappeared and been replaced by an unconfident point guard who couldn’t make a free throw if the basket was the size of his ego, and that’s saying something. As a self proclaimed die-hard Sixers fan, I’ve had enough. I’ve defended this man with my life every time someone criticized him. Year after year, I told myself that this was the year he would finally do something to improve his game, and year after year, I was disappointed to see the same things. But the worst of all, worse than all these things, is the fact that the man has made excuse after excuse this offseason. Now with the end of his time here quickly approaching, I thought I would take a second to look back at the reasons as to why Ben Simmons has made the decision that he will no longer play for the Sixers anymore.

During the postgame interviews, Simmons’ first reason for leaving the 76ers was revealed when head coach Doc Rivers said that he needed to be more aggressive on offense and believes that Ben can be the starting point guard on a championship team. Joel Embiid also made a comment on Ben’s aggressiveness. When asked what he thought the turning point of the game was, he responded, “We had an open shot, and we made one free throw,” referring to a play late in the 4th quarter. Simmons seemingly had a wide open dunk but instead passed into a double team to Matisse Thybulle, who was fouled and scored on one of his two free throws. The fact that Simmons was simply being held accountable by his coach and teammate for a rather large mistake he made was just too disrespectful from his point of view.

Simmons’ decision to leave the Sixers was surprisingly also influenced by his fans in Philadelphia. According to Brian Windhorst of SiriusXMNBA, “Playing in front of Sixers fans is a ‘factor’ in him wanting out of Philadelphia.” Windhorst goes on to say, “He doesn’t want to be in front of those fans…I don’t think he intends to ever show his face there again.” Now aside from the fact that it would be very difficult for him to never play in front of Sixers fans again, if he intends on continuing to play in the NBA, this is nearly impossible. While all Philly fans are known to be “passionate” about their teams and players, I don’t think any sports player has been so concerned as to where their fans are from.

The most recent—and quite possibly the worst—excuse Simmons has provided, is that he thinks Joel Embiid’s playstyle is contradicting his own. Although spectators have been saying this for years, Ben coming out and saying it is just not right. To blame your poor performance on the most dominant center in the NBA is flat out unfair and wrong. Embiid did everything in his power to help Simmons’ lack of shooting, improving his three-point shooting from shooting just 33% in the 2019-2020 season to shooting almost 38% from three this year. Embiid isn’t the only one who tried to space the floor for Ben this season either. During the offseason, the Sixers traded for sharpshooters Danny Green and Seth Curry. Green has shot 40% from three over his 12-year NBA career and stayed on that average this season, shooting 40.5%. Seth Curry, who was born into a family of shooting guards, is one of the best shooters in the NBA and makes a case to be considered an all-time great marksman. Curry has the second highest three-point percentage of all time, only one percent behind Steve Kerr who holds the record with 45.4%. Curry even managed to take a step further and shot 45% from behind the arch with the Sixers in the 2021 season. Tobias Harris, who the Sixers traded for in 2019, also jumped from a career 36% three-point shooter to 39.4% in 2021. The whole team consisted of good shooters, however for Simmons, it still wasn’t enough.

The end of the Ben Simmons era has arrived for Sixers fans. While it is still a little sad to see a player who has so much potential leave, we can’t forget the excuses he made instead of improving his skills like other NBA players do. Instead of owning up to his mistakes and bouncing back stronger, he decided to blame others for his faults. Whether it’s the front office, the coaches, the players, or the fans, Ben Simmons has, and most likely always will, blame his own shortcomings and problems on anyone but himself.