Joel Embiid 'happy' Philadelphia 76ers moving on from Ben Simmons

PHILADELPHIA — Joel Embiid said that he's glad to be done answering questions about «that subject» when asked if he was relieved that the Ben Simmons Saga was officially in the past for the Philadelphia 76ers after Thursday's blockbuster trade that brought James Harden to the City of Brotherly Love.

«Yeah, I'm happy that I'm not going to be answering any more questions about that subject,» Embiid said after finishing with 25 points and 19 rebounds in 35 minutes in a 100-87 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder at Wells Fargo Center Friday night. «It's good that, not just for me, but my teammates, the whole organization. The whole year, it was pretty annoying with the whole situation, but I'm glad that everybody has moved on.

»I wish everybody the best in whatever they want to accomplish, but I'm focused on winning games here and trying to win a championship."

That pursuit of a championship will now, finally, be without Simmons, after the months-long drama surrounding his wish to be traded away from the 76ers culminated in Thursday's deal with the Nets — one that saw Harden and Paul Millsap dealt here in exchange for Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and a pair of first round picks.

While Embiid went out of his way to avoid saying Simmons' name, it was clear there were things about the situation that remained annoyances to the big man. He went out of his way to say that it «sucks to lose some of my teammates,» praising both Curry and Drummond for their contributions to the franchise.

And when asked if he had talked to Simmons, or if both of them were going to move on, he referred back to a report during training camp that Simmons wanted to have his own team, and no longer believed that the partnership with Embiid could