thelesterlee
Ben Simmons can no longer play for the Philadelphia 76ers. He isn’t the sole reason for Philly’s early playoff exit but he also had the lowest free throw percentage in postseason history and vanished in the 4th quarters of every single game against the Hawks. A trade is necessary.
Here are 7 potential Ben Simmons trade destinations:
1. Denver Nuggets
I kept trying to figure out which team has the roster that the Sixers should have been putting together and it’s the Nuggets. Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid were the two best players of the 2020-21 NBA season.
Jamal Murray is the elite scoring point guard that the Sixers should have put next to Ben Simmons years ago instead um, Shake Milton. After watching Aaron Gordon fill the cutting lanes for Jokic to hit him for easy buckets, it’s easy to imagine Ben Simmons in that role.
2. Los Angeles Clippers
“positionless basketball” I whisper as the fast food cashier asks me if I want to pay an additional 75 cents for a large meal.
Imagine a Paul George-Kawhi Leonard-Ben Simmons Red Rover-esque lineup put on Earth for the sole purpose of ensuring that the opposing team never scores more than 40 points. 3 wings that can handle the ball and strangle opposing guards into submission.
3. Golden State Warriors
Functionally, Ben Simmons would exist as a younger and more athletic Draymond Green. Green has clearly fallen off a cliff offensively which was highlighted by him airballing a fucking wide open floater to end the Warriors season.
The problem with this trade is that Philly would have to take back either Draymond or Wiggins in order to make the money match and that makes them a worse team. Wiggins is Tobias Harris with even less sense of urgency and Draymond will take all the 3’s that fans wanted Simmons to take except he’d end the season with the same amount of made 3’s as Ben. That would be zero.
4. Oklahoma City Thunder
OKC has the drat assets and cap space to simply absorb Ben Simmons’s deal in exchange for draft picks allowing Philly more flexibility to do a soft reset as they find a veteran to run their offense as Ben has proven he simply cannot.
Also would love to see Simmons leading a team of kids. 1st in the NBA in pace just running up and down the floor catching teams off guard on a random Wednesday in January. Big Ben and Lu Dort putting opposing teams in a torture chamber on defense.
5. Brooklyn Nets
Obviously Durant and Kyrie are besties so no one is getting traded but like, what if Ben was the starting point guard to run an offense where Harden and Durant will have the ball anyway. Kyrie is more than a luxury on this team.
What’s the Nets weakness? Defense. What’s Ben’s strength? All-NBA caliber defense. Interestinggggg. Plus, Kyrie would be the point guard the Sixers have yet to put next to Joel Embiid. We need a Kyrie vs. Trae playoff series.
6. Washington Wizards
This one has nothing to do with basketball and more about the two funniest possible outcomes being either Russell Westbrook and Joel Embiid together or Russell Westbrook and Ben Simmons together which would lead to hilarious articles in The Athletic about locker room fist fights and Cold Wars amongst the rest of the roster.
Both teams would miss the playoffs but the chaos would be delicious. A Ben Simmons trade to the Wizards would give Deadseriousness so much great content.
7. New York Knicks
HAD to put the Knicks on this list. Couldn’t not. This team had the no. 1 defense last season and would excel to historically great if they added a Defensive Player of the Year candidate on the perimeter to match what Mitch Robinson can do in the paint.
Plus, he and Elfrid Payton are pretty much the same offensively but Simmons at least can get you double-digit rebounds and assists. The Knicks would still have enough money and draft assets to add some shooters around Simmons and Julius Randle and most importantly, Payton would be ejected from the NBA.
