Sixers Tickets Soar To $5K For Return Of Ben Simmons To Philly

Philadelphia PA

10 March, 2022

1:01 PM

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PHILADLEPHIA, PA — Some 10 months later, Ben Simmons is finally returning to the court for a game at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia Thursday night, albeit in an opposing team's uniform. And even though he won't be playing in the game, Sixers fans are apparently treating this as the grand denouement in the ugly theatre that's been playing out publicly and privately for nearly a year. Tickets prices soared to as high as $5,400 on StubHub to sit behind the Brooklyn Nets bench Thursday, where Simmons will be sitting. There were several tickets available for $4,900 in section 124, and prices ranged from $3,900 to over $5,000 for section 101. Simmons accrued millions in fines from the Sixers as he refused to take the court for them once throughout the 2021-22 season, demanding a trade as early as the summer. The environment is expected to be raucous on Thursday night, and NBC10 reporter John Clarke says that the Wells Fargo Center has put in "playoff level" security ahead of the game. Fans weren't waiting for the game to begin to start heckling, however, as several confronted him as he walked with teammates to the Nets bus Thursday morning. Simmons will not play in Thursday's game as he's still recovering from a back injury and preparing for his season debut. Simmons' new teammate, all time great Kevin Durant, said Simmons can handle it, but had firm words for hecklers. "I can't go over there, nobody's going to hold his hand," Durant told a crowd of reporters in a post-game press conference this week. "I'm sure it's going to be some personal attacks, it's going to be some words that may trigger you personally, but that's just how fans are. They want to get under our skin, they want to let their voices be heard. I think part of the experience of coming to an NBA game is to heckle. Some people don't even enjoy basketball, they just like -- their lives are so sh***y that they just need to aim it at other people, so it's easy to kind of get that release at a basketball game. Ben understands that...But at the end of the day, realize that life is amazing, we play the game of basketball for a living, and a little bit of trash talking is what it is." Simmons, who was sent along with Seth Curry and draft picks to the Nets, brought superstar James Harden to Philadelphia in the blockbuster trade deadline deal last month. The move came after what was at least months of discontent from the fanbase with Simmons, who was widely blamed for the Sixers failure to get out of the second round of the playoffs last spring. Reports indicate that Simmons' frustrations with Philadelphia extend even farther back, as he struggled to fit in under a Sixers regime that was oriented around a bigger star: Joel Embiid. Beyond being a reunion between Simmons and Philly fans, Thursday's game is also a reunion for Harden with a Nets team that he made clear he no longer wanted to be a part of. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.