Thanks in large part to LeBron James and Kevin Durant, the NBA is now a league of landscape altering transactions each and every year now. If the 76ers fall short of their goal of a championship within the next year or two, expect them to shake up their current formula. In other words, look for them to trade Ben Simmons.
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons was the first to bring up this idea and it should not entirely be dismissed as a crack pot prediction. Simmons was the first media member to say that LeBron James was going to the Lakers in 2017, a full year before James made the decision. Here is what Simmons and fellow Ringer talker Joe House had to say about Ben Simmons’ situation with the Sixers.
Simmons: The more I watch that team and the more I watch Simmons and Joel Embiid interact, the more I see how much Philly loves Embiid, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Sixers trade Simmons within the next year and a half.
House: Oh my god.
Simmons: It’s just a gut feeling. It honestly is the same reason that I think Kevin Durant is going to leave Golden State. At some point the city and the fans belong to one player on the team. Philly is Embiid’s city. I felt it when I went to that playoff game there. They [expletive] love Embiid and they’re frustrated by Simmons.
Simmons knows that’s not his city. The one thing we’ve learned this decade is all of these guys want their own team. Even Durant, who goes to somebody else’s team, and now two years in it doesn’t seem like he’s happy.
House: The jury is still out on the demeanor and psychological make-up of Ben Simmons. What if he turns out to be someone whose composition is more like Paul George. Because we’re seeing the very best Paul George right now. The thing we’ve learned about him is that he loves being a second banana.
Simmons: That’s not Simmons. I think Simmons is the opposite. I think he wants to be the guy. He’s dating Kendall Jenner. He wants to be a celebrity.
House: If that’s the case then we would see him in a gym shooting 3-pointers properly. That’s what an Alpha Dog does.
Simmons: I’m not saying it’s happening [anytime soon], but there’s a world in which he’s traded in the next few years. Embiid is a lock, he’s staying in Philly. Doncic is a lock, he’s staying in Dallas. Jokic is a lock, he’s staying in Denver. That’s not the case with Simmons. The basketball fit with Simmons and Embiid is not perfect either. If you’re going to have the right team around Embiid you need to have spacers. The fact that Simmons can’t shoot does make it easier to stop them if you’re a good team.
By the time the Sixers would even entertain a Simmons trade it’s likely that the landscape of the NBA will look a lot different than it does right now. Therefore it’s difficult to speculate as to which teams would make a serious run at Simmons.
For the fun of it, here are the teams that MetroBet projects would look at a Simmons trade if he were to be put on the market now: Clippers, Bucks, Knicks, Bulls, Warriors and Spurs.
