After reporting last week that the Sixers‘ preferred outcome would be to have Ben Simmons play for the team this season and then revisit his trade market in the offseason, Marc Stein said in his latest Substack article that teams around the NBA are skeptical about that stance. As Stein notes, it could be a negotiating ploy to try to get potential trade partners to improve their offers, since the odds of Simmons acquiescing to Philadelphia’s wishes and reporting to the team this season still appear extremely slim.
Stein also reported last week that the Hawks are a team to watch in the Simmons sweepstakes, a subject that ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Marc J. Spears discussed in the latest episode of Windhorst’s Hoop Collective podcast.
As RealGM relays, Windhorst and Spears have both heard the Sixers are exploring the concept of attaching Tobias Harris to Simmons in any deal. Theoretically, those two players could produce a greater trade return than Simmons on his own, but Harris’ shooting numbers are down this year and his contract isn’t exactly team-friendly — he and Simmons are earning a combined $69MM this season, which would create salary-matching complications.
According to Spears, the Hawks were more interested in discussing just Simmons than trying to construct a deal that also included Harris.
Here are a few more trade rumors and notes from across the league:
- Rival executives have said the Magic are shopping veteran wings Gary Harris and Terrence Ross, according to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. However, those execs remain unsure what Orlando’s plan is for Mohamed Bamba, who is playing well this season. Bamba will be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer and Orlando has already signed another young center – Wendell Carter Jr. – to a long-term extension.
- HoopsHype relays a pair of Timberwolves tidbits, noting that Darren Wolfson said on his The Scoop w/Doogie podcast that Minnesota has talked to the Pacers about Myles Turner. Appearing on the same podcast with Wolfson, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst suggested that the Wolves have offered virtually whatever pieces they can besides Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards to the Sixers for Ben Simmons.
- Identifying possible trade targets for the Cavaliers outside of Caris LeVert, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (Twitter link) named Celtics guard Dennis Schröder, Jazz forward Joe Ingles, and Raptors guard Goran Dragic as some players that will likely pique Cleveland’s interest. Fedor also mentioned Kyle Anderson, though he cautioned that he’s not sure whether the Grizzlies would move Anderson.
Windhorst said 76ers would like to land Harden in FA if they can move Harris …
The Sixers are playing well with Harris right now
Why ruin the chemistry?
I agree, Tobias is playing decently, if he can step up a bit his 3pt% like his last two seasons, they will be ok
Its about his deal. Hes a supermax 40mil a yr for 3 yrs. Its worst deal in nba after wall & harden. Hes 29 & ok role player but not a max guy. If 76ers dont move him w Simmons… They will be stuck. Harris shooting is not a 3pt shooter & cant space floor like they need. Motey is smart. Look to get Maurkkenan Rubio Love Sexton plus fut 1sts & he will move Love to 3rd team for expirings to have $ to resign sexton & offer max deal to Harden. Especially with disfunction in Bkn.
Sixers were nuts to give Harris that kind of$$
That Cavs deal ain’t happening, they do not want Simmons or Harris that badly, they are playing well this year and have a good young core.
Remember when they wouldn’t trade Simmons in a Harden deal? That’s come back to burn them
When did that happen?
I don’t remember that because it never happened
It was the report that came out, they were favourites to get him but they were refusing to include Simmons and Maxey. But on the day he was traded apparently 76ers we’re on the verge and Simmons was included looks like it was done. Then out of nowhere it change to Brooklyn and as such Houston gave away everything from the trade except a few picks and swaps that are likely to be late 1sts
Just Trade Ben Simmons already!!!
SMH
76ers are playing well without an all-star caliber player, i really want them to trade Simmons and get more help so they could really compete to reach ECF at least.
I don’t know if they can move Simmons and Tobias and if they can, what they can get?
That’s $70m in salary. There would have to be $56m coming back. Even Westbrook doesn’t make that much. That would likely be two major talents (one at a super max type number). Don’t see a deal like that out there, to be honest.
Me neither, that amount of money looks almost impossible to move, and then you have to think about the fit… Im tired of all these reports around Simmons, most of them are completely smoke
Remember, it’s their combined salary of $69M.
No one player makes $70m a year. A Supermax deal for his tenure was about $30-35m. Even though he competed with Donovan Mitchell for ROTY, he actually has an extra year of service on his resume. Which is why it’s so stupid he was allowed to compete for ROTY. lol
Perhaps the Sixers are looking at adding someone like Chris Paul or Kawhi Leonard. They could even add Westbrook with that much salary. There’s just not a lot of scenarios that other teams are seriously willing to consider for Simmons’ limited ability. He does certain things really well. I just don’t see how the Sixers are ever going to be satisfied, no matter what happens, unless Simmons returns and plays.
Cavs and Spurs should work out a sexton for white and someone else. Or offer sexton/ okoro and some picks for Brandon Ingram and make that team really long
You saw how really long teams do in the playoffs. The Bucks and Raptors are two really long teams. Both have won titles recently. Worth looking into.
I like the Ingram trade but not so much white
Ya, Ingram would be the end of the shot clock scorer they are missing and can showed a couple years ago he can handle the point so really would be a perfect fit
Ok. After extensive research I’ve solved the Simmons saga..
Harris, Ingram, Satoransky, Knox, Noel, Bassey, Naji Marshall and Samanic to the Pacers.
Sabonis, Graham & Jeremy Lamb to the blazers with a couple of draft picks.
RJ, Fournier, Kemba, Craig, Springer and Seth Curry to the Pelicans.
Lillard, Randle, Warren and Levert to the 76ers.
Simmons, Turner, Nance, Maxey, Murphy, Jackson and Duarte to the Knicks.
It would never happen of course so please don’t view this as a prediction or recommendation. It’s just a value game.
Sixers with a team of Dame LeVert Warren Randle and Embiid would destroy teams, especially with Shake, Green, Thybulle, Niang and Drummond as a second unit.
Pelicans would be strong too, Kemba Fouriner Barrett Zion and Big Val. Seth Curry as a 6th man lighting it up.
I’d say the Knicks aren’t getting a good return might need to give them a couple extras but good idea hahahah
The Knicks are definitely taking a risk there but they don’t have a star to give up so it seemed fair to have them take the biggest risks. I’m also not terribly confident that building around Randle or RJ gets you anywhere.
I’m actually a Knicks fan and think Simmons and Obi might fit better than Randle and RJ.
I don’t think the hawks have good enough assets to trade for Ben Simmons.
One poster here said Hield has more trade value than Simmons
76ers have the best idea- Simmons need to play now so they can trade him for better assets
That one poster would be me and I 1000% still hold that opinion. The mental aspect of the game seems to be the hardest part of being on the court for Simmons. The last 6 months have proved not only is Simmons afraid of shooting the ball, but he is plain afraid to play in front of a crowd that might dislike him. If you’d like to pay 30 million dollars to a PG who can’t shoot and can’t lead… be my guest. I’ll take Hield leading the league in 3s for 20 million thanks
Too add to this, had the Lakers not completely botched the off-season and made the swing for Westbrook, thaf package would have been on its way to Sacramento for Hield. 6ers would die to get a deal on that level (Kuz, Trez, KCP, 22 overall). But yeah Buddy has no value
The proposed deal was Buddy for Kuzma and Harrell.
Then in order to salary match with Russ they had to add KCP and the pick.
Aka at the start of the season Buddy was worth Kuzma and Harrell.
Now Kuzma is balling and his value will be high, Harrell was playing good hes got value. Whereas Buddy is having a really poor year. Less than 40% FG%, shooting his worse percentage from three since his rookie year, points, rebounds and assists are down.
Right now Buddy ain’t worth much at all
Why would hawks go for Simmons?!?, they have arguably the best PG in the east with trae!! Possibly trade Collins and use him at the PF but that’s a terrible idea. No matter what is said Ben is a PG not a forward just because he’s tall don’t mean he’s a forward. Collins is a better 4 than Ben would every try to be. Ice cold take.
Simmons isn’t a PG either. He can’t shoot and is only a good passer in transition. He’d work as a PF ala uber athletic Draymond Green.
Neither can Fox but everyone seems high on him. Trade best defensive “PG” for someone with terrible 3pt numbers and lower assist and board average. Great call that is.
You don’t need to be Steph to be a PG you need to facilitate and control the game. Ben is one of the best in the game at that. Look at his numbers and tell me he’s not a point guard.
No, you don’t need to be Steph. Hell you don’t even need to shoot all that accurately. Just be a threat to shoot. Take Luka for example he doesn’t shoot all that well but you have to respect that he might pull up. It opens things up for everyone else when defenders have to get in the PGs grill.
Just because you bring the ball up court and rack up assists doesn’t mean you can facilitate. Durant takes the ball up court as does Giannis and there’s no way they’re PGs. Simmons makes simple passes in the half court he’s not gonna get you a bucket when there’s nothing there. He is however a good passer in transition and a elite defender.
Using Luka isn’t a good reference when he jacks up 3s far too much. I get what you’re saying.
I watched a lot of 76ers last year(much to my distaste as I’m not a fan of Embiid) I either I’m blind or you’re not watching the same games. I like the guy on the court, he’ll hold the ball, control the pace, iso and then make a good pass or drive and draw the defence. Everything that makes you a PG. he’s not just as run and pass guy with good D if he was it would’ve be such a big conversation. He will drive and lay it in if there’s no pass on. like Wall used to or westbrick does. 3 ain’t the only option down the stretch if the pass isn’t on and that don’t make a PG
However you look at it, If Giannis or KD played PG for a full season if needed you wouldn’t complain if it was needed. but that’s not their roles the can easily do it and they do in stretches. But they have Jrue and Harden to do that for them. It’s like how draymond covers centre alot for the W but he’s not a centre as he is better as a forward but he’s good at it. Like Simmons best position is PG which he has been all of his career and he is damn good at.
What about a Simmons to Magic trade? Something like Simmons for Cole Anthony, Bamba, Ross, and a couple picks
Bamba and Ross both on expiring deals, Anthony is nice, love him and his game but we have Maxey so it’s not really a good move
Is Simmons getting paid ?
Y
After Grant I’d take Tobias second. He’s from Queens NY. So I’m sure he would be psyched to go to NY. Knicks could get in that as third team. They’d take Harris.
It’s a good idea to try and move both. Really build team around Embiid now.
link to cbssports.com
Attaching Harris to Simmons shouldn’t be assumed (by the Sixers) to increase the value of the package. The other team(s) would have to both consider Harris an asset at his contract price, and intend to use Simmons in a manner consistent with Harris’ skill set. Or, they could be looking to dump even worse salaries than Harris back on Philly. Either way, it’s something they should let the other team bring up. Otherwise, it just works to make things more complicated – and dealing a contract like Simmons midyear (when he isn’t playing) is complicated enough.
I doubt the Simmons/Harris talk is real. Maybe Morey is infatuated with Atlanta’s offer and thinks he can get a good point guard for Harris in another trade.
#FreeBenSimmons
A Simmons and Tobias trade isn’t going to be a 2 team trade 3 or 4 teams. It’s not as difficult to construct that. I doubt it includes the Cavs and Kevin Love or Lakers and Westbrick.
I’m starting to think there’s some merit in a trade with Ben Simmons (and maybe Thybulle or Green) to LAL, AD to the Blazers and Lillard to Philly.
It make sense to move the money of Harris and Simmons and have the Sixers build around Joel Embiid, but I agree it’ll be hard to get it done without it involving three or four teams.
As far as the Magic, Gary Harris and Terrence Ross, the Cavs are in desperate need for wings. Maybe they can trade KLove for them?
Lakers shooting would be terrible.
Blazers can get a better return than a broken down AD who gets bullied around.
Sixers (personally) don’t want to be paying Lillard his next huge extension.