The Philadelphia 76ers have been stuck in what seems like a never-ending saga when it comes to the Ben Simmons situation. The Sixers and Simmons have been going back and forth in what has really turned into a soap opera that could be reaching a resolution with the embattled star returning to the city.

With that being said, this has not been an easy situation to go through. The Sixers still have aspirations of chasing a championship and they have had to go through this Simmons drama in order to move forward as a team.

Philadelphia has done its best in trying to keep the focus on the team’s success as a whole rather than individuals and that has been the message all throughout this process as the team moves forward. Focus on what they have presently rather than anything else.

“From the first day of training camp, all our focus was just to be ready on the court, whoever plays, whoever don’t play,” said Furkan Korkmaz. “We were just trying to stay ready and then try to execute what we wanna do as a team, not as individuals.”

Philadelphia is a team that is led by a lot of proven veterans. Guys like Joel Embiid, Danny Green, Seth Curry, Tobias Harris, and even Korkmaz are here to keep the team focused on one thing. They have done a good job of blocking out the noise and continuing to grow as a team.

“Of course, we talked about the situation at the beginning of the season in the locker room, on the court, but that wasn’t our main topic,” said Korkmaz. “Our main topic was how we can get the championship. That was our mentality. It was not about individuals.”

Then, there are younger guys like Isaiah Joe who has had to go through this as just a 22-year old in his second season. He is just trying to really establish himself in the league, but the positive he can take from this is the fact that he and the team have been able to come together and grow chemistry.

“I think the most important thing is to stay close to each other,” said Joe. “This whole process has made us (grow camaraderie) a lot better between each other. We do a lot of things as a team so it just shows that we can’t be spread out on islands. We need to be together, be one unit, and I think it shows even on the court that we’ve learned to adapt.”

The good thing for the Sixers is, Simmons is looking like he will make his return to the floor. While they are looking to keep their focus on the team, it is good to have the 25-year old 3-time All-Star return as they are obviously a better team with him on the floor.

“I’m trying to keep everybody focused on basketball and focused on whatever we have here, whatever we’ve been building,” said Embiid. “Guys are gonna come in and there’s gonna be adjustments and stuff, but everybody has to buy in because if one or two people don’t buy-in, you have no chance so we just need to buy in and believe that we have a chance to win. Which I believe in the group that we have, and obviously with him being back, we have a chance to win.”

The Sixers will have a few practices before Friday’s preseason finale with the Detroit Pistons so it will be interesting to see if Simmons will actually show up on those days and be with the team.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!