Despite silence coming from Ben Simmons, Daryl Morey continues to play hardball in Philly.
After weeks of negotiations, Morey and the front office have not yet given up their dream of acquiring a star in return for Ben, even if it means hanging on to him until the deadline.
Meanwhile, rival GMs are getting turned off by the ridiculously high demands.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the Celtics pulled out of trade talks quickly after Morey tried asking for two-way guard Jaylen Brown.
“Daryl Morey, when he goes and wants players on other teams like Jaylen Brown, and Damian Lillard, and Bradley Beal, those are the types of players that Daryl Morey and Philadelphia have prioritized to go get a guy like Ben Simmons.
The Celtics did engage the Sixers on Ben Simmons and have conversations but those conversations weren’t something the Celtics wanted to acquiesce to. When it comes to Jaylen Brown, they didn’t want to move Jaylen Brown for Ben Simmons. So unless Philadelphia gets more realistic, they’re not going to get what they want out of this scenario.”
"The Celtics & 76ers did have conversations about Ben Simmons.. those conversations ended when the 76ers asked for Jaylen Brown" ~@ShamsCharania #PatMcAfeeShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/qVosad5qG3
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) November 11, 2021
With Joel Embiid, Seth Curry, and Tobias Harris, the Sixers have a solid core of players that could be competing for a Championship with the right player by their side.
It remains to be seen if Simmons can be that guy for the Sixers again.
With time, Philly might end up lowering their standards, in which case the Celtics could still make an intriguing offer.
A three-team framework, sending Smart and Williams and picks for another All-Star to reroute to Philly, would seem to be the one possible route for Boston to land Simmons without sacrificing Brown, (wrote Jake Fischer of Bleacher Reporter).
Whatever the case, this situation (which has been going for months now) is still ongoing, and something will have to give sooner or later.
