Philadelphia 76ers head coach revealed his plan to Ben Simmons during a meeting with the three-time All-Star in Los Angeles this past summer.

Kevin O’Connor of the Ringer revealed what Rivers discussed with Simmons during their meeting, with Sixers head coach proposing a new role for the 2021-22 campaign.

“Rivers shared how he planned to use Simmons this upcoming season anyway: Embiid and Simmons would stagger minutes more often, and when Embiid came off the floor, Simmons would play the 5, sharing the frontcourt with Tobias Harris and new addition Georges Niang.

Rivers said he wanted to put Simmons in more situations that resemble Giannis Antetokounmpo’s role in Milwaukee, with four shooters surrounding him, empowering him to be a primary scoring option with the second unit.”

Simmons was not enthusiastic about the idea. According to O’Connor, Klutch Sports is aggressively pursuing a trade for the Sixers’ star, hoping to find a way to ship him to a franchise that will build around him.

Simmons apparently doesn’t want to be used like Giannis Antetokounmpo sometimes, but he wants to be the main weapon for a team all the time. That will be impossible in Philadelphia with Joel Embiid being the cornerstone of the franchise.

Philadelphia saw Simmons’ averages dropping last season, as he put up 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game for the Sixers.