Where is the Australian and the 76ers?

Simmons lives about 15 minutes from the team’s headquarters and, as a member of the team, is free to work there whenever he wants.

But this wasn’t just any night. This was a game night, and the Sixers were in the midst of an important home stand at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. But instead of being on the court with his teammates when they finished 12-3 in January and were a half-game out of first place in the Eastern Conference, Simmons was 20 minutes away, working out with his personal coaching staff, trying to stay ready in case he gets traded to a new team.

By all accounts, he is in great physical shape. But according to sources close to Simmons and within the Sixers organization, he continues to tell the team and those representing him that he is not mentally ready to return to the court. Not now and not ever in Philadelphia.

It has been seven months since he asked the Sixers to explore a trade for him and nearly four months since he returned to Philadelphia. He hasn’t participated significantly in a practice or even a film session since then. He’s simply been there: in body but never in spirit.

He has worked separately with his own group of coaches, according to sources close to Simmons. He’s organized his own practices with local players. He has lifted weights at a local gym that is open to the general public. He has seen his own therapist, but has not shared information about his treatment with the team. He lives in the Moorestown, N.J., home he put on the market months ago.

Everything he’s done has been apart from the Sixers. But now, just under two weeks before the Feb. 10 trade deadline, Ben Simmons is back working out at the facility. There’s no ulterior motive. When it’s empty, the Sixers’ practice court is probably the safest place for Simmons. Every other place he’s worked out eventually leaks. And until he’s traded, those close to him say he wants no attention. No cell phone cameras. No crowds.

The most recent event that pushed him back to the Sixers’ facility, a source says, was when a photo of him playing 5-on-5 with local boys and former NBA players like Dion Waiters and Dionte Christmas at Cherry Hill High School East (N.J.) was posted on social media.

The image did not go viral. It was only on the Instagram stories of a former Temple University player named Semaj Inge, who has 3,187 followers.

But Simmons saw it and knew it was only a matter of time before the curious or the circus scrutinized it again.

WHEN THIS PROBLEM started last summer, no one on either side thought it would last this long or cost so much on either side.

So much time has passed that it’s easy to forget what started the confrontation in the first place. Fourteen months ago, there were trade discussions with Houston over trading Simmons for then-Rockets star James Harden. Then there was his playoff collapse in Game 7 against the Atlanta Hawks in June, and the critical postgame comments from coach Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid.

There’s more, if anyone needs a full accounting: past slights that have been magnified over time.

According to sources close to Simmons, he’s upset that Embiid appeared to blame him for last season’s playoff loss, when Simmons didn’t blame Embiid for his poor playoff performance against the Toronto Raptors in 2019. He’s frustrated that Rivers didn’t come to see him while training in Los Angeles last summer.

Simmons doesn’t dispute that he didn’t respond when Rivers texted and called him several times over the summer to ask to see him. But in retrospect, Simmons feels Rivers and the Sixers could have done more, such as showing up at a well-known gym in the San Fernando Valley where he was training.

He’s also skeptical, sources close to him say, about Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey’s willingness to trade him because of his previous pursuit of Harden, who may become a free agent this summer. Simmons would be the best player the Sixers would send in any theoretical trade. And he’s upset that the organization is fining him so heavily after he raised mental health as an issue upon his return.

Rich Paul, Simmons’ agent, had spent weeks in the fall trying to convince the three-time All-Star to fly back to Philadelphia as a show of good faith.

Simmons didn’t want to go under any circumstances.

But according to sources with knowledge of the conversation, Paul told Simmons that while he understood he wasn’t mentally ready to get on the court, because of the four years remaining on his contract, they simply had no leverage if he didn’t at least return to the team.

Simmons said he understood. And when his older brother, Sean Tribe, agreed with Paul, the decision was made to fly back to Philadelphia. For Simmons, this was a grand gesture of good faith. For the Sixers, it was a surprise (no one told them beforehand that Simmons was coming), and the least a player under contract could do.

There will always be debate about the intentions behind Simmons’ return to the team. There are people on both sides who believe he was open to playing for the Sixers again at the time. There are also skeptics who think it was just a stunt designed to mitigate the millions he would continue to lose.

Be that as it may, the comeback didn’t go well.

He was offended, sources close to him say, that the Sixers still fined him for not playing in the last preseason game, even after he rushed to the arena before the start of the game. Whatever good faith he thought he was showing, it hadn’t been appreciated.

Over the next few days, Simmons’ meetings with team management and staff were short and unproductive, according to sources. But eventually, Simmons opened up and told management, coaches and teammates that he didn’t feel mentally ready to play. The team immediately shifted its stance to support him. Tobias Harris spoke publicly about how significant it was for Simmons to confide in his teammates. Embiid even told the Wells Fargo Center crowd on opening night that “I urge you to continue to support us and our teammate Ben because he’s still our brother.”

But the goodwill didn’t last long. Simmons declined mental health services offered by the team and instead told the Sixers that he was seeing a mental health professional he had found through the National Basketball Players Association, but didn’t feel comfortable sharing details.

The Sixers were in a difficult position. It’s standard practice for players to see their own specialists, outside of team doctors. But it’s also standard practice for outside doctors to update the team on their diagnostic and treatment recommendations.

It all came to a boiling point on Oct. 19. Simmons was scheduled to speak to the media after practice. It was a contractual obligation and Simmons had agreed to it. However, he did not engage in any preparation with the team’s public relations staff, with whom he had previously enjoyed solid relations. Instead, he discussed what he intended to say with those in his camp. According to sources close to Simmons, his message would be simple:

I’m not in a great place mentally. I’m not comfortable playing in this environment and I’m looking forward to a change of scenery.

Except Simmons never delivered that message. Earlier that day, Rivers had asked him to participate in a practice drill. Simmons refused and was promptly sent home. Shortly thereafter, he was suspended for conduct detrimental to the team.

SIMMONS HAS LOST more than $19 million in fines since the season began (each missed game costing him $360,000). Has not cleared a paycheck since the $8.25 million (25% of his $33 million salary) he was owed on Oct. 1. Every two weeks, the team sends a notice with an explanation of all the fines he has accrued for failing to perform in lieu of a $1.375 million salary. At the end of the season, if he doesn’t play for the Sixers or any other team, Simmons could lose another $12 million.

That’s a staggering amount of money. Everyone involved assumes this problem will eventually be resolved in arbitration. But those close to Simmons, who has made more than $60 million over his career, insist that his decision to demand a trade and then not play until he is traded has never been financially motivated. He wants a fresh start, away from a franchise he no longer feels comfortable playing for.

“We don’t give a damn about the money,” says a source close to Simmons. “That’s not what this is. It’s hard for people to understand. But if you believe in what you’re doing and that this isn’t the right situation for you, and you’re trying to get to a better place, money doesn’t matter. Obviously it’s a financial hit. But you adjust.”

Another source close to Simmons, said, “It’s easy to tell when someone is hurt when they have a cast on their arm. But this is mental health. You can’t always see it. But ask yourself, how many people would lose a dollar over this? That should tell you everything.”

For Philadelphia, the stalemate is damaging in other ways: the potential to squander one of the best seasons of Embiid’s career, the current favorite to win the MVP.