Latest on Ben Simmons

Ben Simmons‘ arrived in Philadelphia on Monday night and he has since met with president of basketball operations Daryl Morey and general manager Elton Brand, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com.

Shelburne’s source described the meeting as “brief” without providing any other details.

The Sixers play their final preseason game on Friday and it’s too early to tell if Simmons will be cleared to play. Simmons took a COVID-19 test on Monday night and the NBA has different requirements for rejoining for vaccinated vs. unvaccinated players, as Shelburne explains.

A player who is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and who is entering the team environment for the first time needs to return at least one negative result from a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test facilitated by the team before interacting with other players and Tier 1 staffers, according to NBA protocols obtained by ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

An unvaccinated player must return two negative tests before returning to the facility and participating in individual workouts where no other player is present. If the player returns two more negative rapid molecular tests, he could then be cleared to interact with teammates and staff.