Ben Simmons’ attempted exit from the Philadelphia 76ers has been in the news cycle right from the end of the 76ers’ last playoff series, and it is still ongoing currently. Thus far, Ben Simmons hasn’t played in the regular season for the team.
If the Philadelphia 76ers were to trade Ben Simmons, they would likely want win-now pieces. The goal for the team is to build a championship-level roster around superstar Joel Embiid.
A recent report by Michael Scotto of HoopsHype has relayed the words of an NBA executive, who opined that the Philadelphia 76ers likely won’t accept draft picks in exchange for Ben Simmons while Joel Embiid is in his prime. The executive stated that the 76ers are hoping that Ben Simmons will “become happy again” but also mentioned that another acceptable option would be for a superstar like “Bradley Beal or Damian Lillard” to become available.
“These are Joel Embiid’s prime years, so they can’t say they got draft picks for their second-best player,” another executive noted. “They’re holding out hope he’ll become happy again, or one of the guys like Bradley Beal or Damian Lillard becomes available.”
It makes sense that the Philadelphia 76ers would want a needle-mover for their contending hopes in return for Ben Simmons. Pairing Joel Embiid with a perimeter creator such as Bradley Beal and Damian Lillard would be amazing, but that seems like an unlikely option thus far. Damian Lillard has recently repeated that he won’t leave Portland, and Bradley Beal has stated that he wants to win with the Washington Wizards just last month. It seems unlikely that either jump ship from their current franchises.
We’ll see if the 76ers end up getting what they want for Ben Simmons, or whether they’ll end up having to settle for a subpar deal. Ben Simmons is still a great player, so perhaps there will be a suitable offer soon enough.
