COMPLETE THE PROCESS: Ben Simmons eyes NBA comeback, names Sixers or Heat as potential landing spots

Ladies and gentlemen, summer has officially begun because unrestricted free agent and Philadelphia 76ers legend Ben Simmons has officially sent out the bat signal.

According to Men’s Health Magazine, Ben Simmons is ready to make his triumphant return to the NBA and is already eyeing the Sixers and the Heat as potential landing spots, so yet again, I’m demanding that Philadelphia does the right thing and COMPLETE THE PROCESS.

Ben Simmons wants to get back to Philly

Ben Simmons is planning an NBA comeback with the 76ers and Heat as potential targets

“I plan on getting as strong as I can physically, getting my ass on the court, and then the team realizing that my abilities will be needed… Maybe I’ll go back to Philly. Miami would be nice.… pic.twitter.com/MzbC8iyXlO

— Fullcourtpass (@Fullcourtpass) June 29, 2026

If you read The Liberty Line then you already know where I stand on Ben Simmons because I’ve written about it multiple times and I’m not backing down from any of it. I love Ben Simmons.

I’m man enough to say it out loud instead of going on social media and firing off the same recycled talking points you see from casuals who don’t know a damn thing about basketball, being in a locker room, playing sports, or anything else related to the dark days before his departure from Philadelphia.

Ben Simmons gave us some of the best basketball this city has seen in nearly two decades and the fact that it ended badly doesn’t erase what happened before the ending, no matter how many angry Sixers fans want to pretend the Embiid-Simmons era was a waste of time.

The Embiid-Simmons Era Was the Best Sixers Basketball in 20 Years

I am beyond sick of crybaby Sixers fans who pretend like the Simmons-Embiid pairing wasn’t the undisputed best basketball this franchise has produced since the Allen Iverson era because those teams were a force and anyone who denies it is either lying to themselves or letting their emotions rewrite history in real time.

The defense was elite, the fast breaks were electric, the potential was off the charts, and those Sixers squads were one or two moves away from winning it all during a stretch where the franchise had its best chance at a championship in decades.

Ben Simmons’ last great season in the NBA was with Joel Embiid in Philadelphia and the Sixers’ most dominant teams during the Process era were built around the dynamic yet dysfunctional pairing of those two players who brought out the best and worst in each other simultaneously.

The best chances this franchise had to win a Finals or at the very least finally escape the second round were with Simmons and Embiid on the floor together, and say whatever you want about how it ended because I can guarantee that if you disagree with me on this it’s probably just your emotions talking and you don’t know ball as well as you think you do.

It wasn’t supposed to end like that. Time heals. Grow the fuck up and at the very least be open to the idea of a reunion in Philadelphia because the man is a free agent, the Sixers need depth, and bringing Ben Simmons back on a minimum deal to provide defense, playmaking, and transition offense off the bench would be the most entertaining roster move the Sixers could make this summer regardless of whether it actually works on the basketball court.

Remember: Ben Simmons is ready to hoop for FREE

They’ll never make me hate you, Ben Simmons

Ben Simmons isn’t just working out in silence hoping a team notices because the man went on record about his intentions and his preferred destinations in a way that should have every Sixers fan paying attention.

“I plan on getting as strong as I can physically, getting my ass on the court, and then the team realizing that my abilities will be needed,” Simmons said before dropping the part that made my jaw hit the floor.

“Maybe I’ll go back to Philly. Miami would be nice. And not because it’s Miami, I like Erik Spoelstra, I like the Heat, I like their organization, I like the culture.”

Maybe I’ll go back to Philly. Deal.

Ben Simmons said those words out loud in 2026 after everything that happened with the trade demand and the holdout and the mental health battle and the years of being a punchline on social media and the complete deterioration of his relationship with the franchise and the fanbase.

The man who was booed out of Philadelphia, who refused to play for the Sixers, who sat out an entire season while the organization tried to trade him, who became the most polarizing figure in the city’s sports history, is now a free agent saying “maybe I’ll go back to Philly” because enough time has passed and enough has changed that a return to Philadelphia is something he’s genuinely considering rather than dismissing outright.

That quote alone should tell you that Ben Simmons isn’t holding a grudge against the city even if the city is still holding one against him, and the fact that Philadelphia is one of only two teams he specifically mentioned as a potential landing spot means the door is open from his side and the only question is whether Gansey and the Sixers are willing to walk through it.

The Reunion Makes More Sense Than People Want to Admit

Before you exit out of this article because you’re still too emotional about how things ended with Ben Simmons in Philadelphia, suck it up for three minutes and actually think about what a Simmons reunion would look like on the current Sixers roster.

Simmons running the fast break again with the kind of court vision and passing ability that made him one of the most unique players in basketball during his prime. Simmons locking down the best player on the other team every night because his defensive versatility at 6’10” with guard skills is still one of the most valuable tools in the NBA when his body is right.

Embiid dominating the paint the way he always has with a playmaker on the perimeter who knows how to find him in the post. George doing whatever George does at this point in his career while Maxey and the shooters around them space the floor. The rookie Philon coming in from SEC country with the confidence to talk trash about breaking Sengun’s ankles before his first practice.

VJ Edgecombe developing into Jimmy Butler 2.0 on the wing and Simmons not shooting, as he does best, but this time it doesn’t matter because Maxey and George are bombing threes from every angle and the spacing that Simmons never had during his first stint in Philadelphia is suddenly there because the roster around him is built differently than the one that couldn’t figure out how to maximize his talents the first time around.

It’s not about restoring Ben Simmons’ career because honestly his career might be beyond restoration given the injuries and the years of inactivity and the mental health battles that derailed everything after the Hawks series.

It’s about restoring order to the realm of Sixers basketball by acknowledging that the most exciting period in the franchise’s recent history involved Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid on the same team and that bringing them back together, even in a diminished capacity, would generate more excitement and more attention and more fun than anything else the Sixers could do with a minimum salary roster spot this summer.

The Heat Interest Makes Sense Too but Philly Is the Story

Ben Simmons saying he likes Spoelstra, the Heat organization, and their culture is the kind of mature, professional response that tells you he’s thought seriously about where he wants to play rather than just chasing the biggest paycheck or the warmest weather.

Miami just acquired Giannis and could use a defensive-minded playmaker off the bench who doesn’t need the ball in his hands to impact the game, and Simmons playing alongside Giannis and Adebayo would be fascinating from a defensive standpoint even if the offensive spacing would be comically bad with three non-shooters sharing the floor.

If Ben Simmons goes to Miami instead of Philadelphia, the Sixers miss an opportunity that is never going to come around again because the window for a Simmons reunion has a finite shelf life and the longer it stays closed the harder it becomes to open. Simmons saying “maybe I’ll go back to Philly” is the invitation and Gansey needs to at least explore the possibility of bringing him back on a minimum deal because the risk is nonexistent and the potential reward, both on the court and in terms of the energy it would inject into a franchise that desperately needs something to be excited about heading into next season, is significant enough to justify a phone call at the very minimum.

Ben Simmons. Joel Embiid. The Process

The more Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons are mentioned in the same sentence the better, and I’m dead serious about that because every time Stephen A. Smith or anyone else brings up the Simmons-Embiid pairing it’s like the universe sending a message that there’s unfinished business between these two players and this franchise that deserves one more chapter before the book is closed permanently.

Somewhere in the NBA multiverse there’s a version of this duo hoisting a Larry O’Brien trophy while we’re all losing our minds at a parade down Broad Street, and bringing Simmons back to Philadelphia for one more run at whatever this current Sixers roster is capable of producing would be the closest we can get to accessing that timeline.

Ben Simmons might be collecting checks and living his best life as a guy who hasn’t played meaningful basketball in years, but he’s not doing worse than anything happening in Philadelphia right now given that the Sixers got swept in the second round by the Knicks, fired their president of basketball operations, and are staring down a roster with two aging max-contract players and no bench depth.

Getting Simmons back in South Philly on a minimum deal to play 15 to 20 minutes a night off the bench as a defensive specialist and transition playmaker would cost the Sixers nothing and might actually provide a spark that this franchise desperately needs heading into a season where the expectations are unclear and the vibes are nonexistent.

The Sixers are always one piece away when healthy, right?

That’s been the line for years. Well Ben Simmons is available, he’s working out, he wants to play, he specifically mentioned Philadelphia as one of two preferred destinations, and the idea of him running the fast break in a Sixers uniform one more time while the crowd at Wells Fargo Center goes insane is enough to make me bang the drum for a reunion every single day until free agency opens and Gansey either makes the call or doesn’t.

Bring him back. Let him play. Stop pretending like you didn’t love watching him dunk on people in transition and lock down opposing stars on the defensive end. The Embiid-Simmons era gave us the best basketball this city has seen in 20 years and getting one more taste of it, even a diminished version, is worth more than whatever other minimum-salary veteran the Sixers are going to sign to fill out the back end of the roster.

Ben Simmons said “maybe I’ll go back to Philly.” Make the call, Gansey. They will never make me hate this man. Run it back. Complete the process.

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