Philadelphia 76ers Rumors: Joel Embiid wanted to play with Bradley Beal

For the entirety of the great Ben Simmons trade saga of 2021-22, Joel Embiid stayed incredibly neutral on what he wanted his Philadelphia 76ers to do with their roster.

Sure, he’d give quotes on Simmons, on what it would take for him to come back, and how his teammates were faring without their second-best player, but whenever he was asked about if the Sixers needed to make a trade, let alone who they should trade for, Embiid clammed up. According to “The Process,” he enjoyed the challenge of being the team’s only star and was willing to trust Daryl Morey to make the best deal he could, even if it took a few more months after the trade deadline to get it done.

That, my friends, is how Embiid opted to handle things externally. But inside the walls of the Philadelphia 76ers’ Training Complex in Camden? Well, according to The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Embiid had a clear favorite that he was lobbying for.

If Bradley Beal didn’t undergo season-ending surgery on his left wrist two days before the 2022 NBA trade deadline, would he be a member of the Philadelphia 76ers right now?

Could Bradley Beal have ended up with the Philadelphia 76ers?

When Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons get together for a podcast, you just know it’s going to generate headlines. The duo are both very well connected, with the latter being very good friends with Philadelphia 76ers GM Daryl Morey and have a tendency to let very inside baseball info slip when they get going.

Intentionally or not, that happened on Thursday, February 24th edition of Simmons’ eponymously titled podcast, with the most notable nugget of info being that Joel Embiid internally banged the table for the Sixers to trade for Bradley Beal, not James Harden.

Now on paper, the on-court fit makes sense. Beal is a shooting guard who could fit well next to Tyrese Maxey and has an offensive game perfectly tailored to play off of “The Process.” While Beal isn’t as effective from a playmaking standpoint as Harden, he’s four years younger than Harden and just a year older than Embiid. Factor in Embiid’s familiarity with Beal, who has shared the Eastern Conference with Beal for the entirety of his career and was All-Star teammates with in 2018 and 2019, and it makes sense that the two players could have been talking about a union of sorts for some time.

Does this mean Embiid isn’t still more than happy to be teammates with Harden? No, I would assume Embiid is over the moon with how Daryl Morey handled the trade deadline and will grow more and more fond of it as the two players form a lethal attack moving forward, but according to Simmons – Bill, not Ben – “The Process” was even down with trading for Beal after his wrist injury, which would have effectively capped the season’s ceiling down unless he had a very quick recovery.

Goodness, could you even imagine what would have happened if Beal didn’t have that surgery, or better yet, if he would have actually asked out or demanded a trade publically? The 2022 NBA trade deadline could have been even more exciting/crazy than it actually was.

Will James Harden and Joel Embiid work out? Will the duo become the new featured pairing of the Eastern Conference and ride off into the sunset of their eventual NBA careers as champions? Only time will tell, but make no mistake about it; regardless of how the Philadelphia 76ers’ season turns out, the team will be massively linked to Bradley Beal this summer, as per Zach Lowe, there’s a conspiracy theory that Daryl Morey could free up near-max contract money to pursue a third star this summer.