As the Ben Simmons saga continues to unfold in Philadelphia, the All-Star is being linked with more and more teams in the NBA. The 76ers received word from Simmons’ camp that he intends to never play another game for the 76ers again.
Simmons’ relationship with Philly has been on shaky ground for the last few years. For the most part, Simmons objected to the fact that the 76ers gave more priority to Joel Embiid, and treated him as the most important star in the franchise.
With the dismissal of Brett Brown and the arrival of Doc Rivers, Simmons felt that his perception would change within the franchise. And his regular-season performance was excellent, as he became an All-Star once again and was named to the All-Defensive First Team.
But the 2021 playoffs seemed to cause more friction between the 2 sides. Simmons performed poorly in the 2021 NBA playoffs, as the 76ers were eliminated in the 2nd round by the Atlanta Hawks.
The comments from Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid after the game only further soured the relationship with Simmons. On top of that, the poor reception of fans to Simmons has caused him to decide that he no longer wants to play for the 76ers.
A lot of teams have made an approach to the 76ers for a Simmons trade. But their offers were rebuffed. Over the last few weeks, the Minnesota Timberwolves were increasingly becoming the favorites to land the Australian point guard.
And it appears their chances have drastically improved now. With the departure of Gerson Rossas from Minnesota, the Timberwolves could pull off a trade that sends D’Angelo Russell to the 76ers in exchange for Simmons.
Per league source Timberwolves ownership wants to ship D’Angelo Russell to 76ers.
Gerrson Rosas resisted.
D-Lo/Simmons swap ‘has legs.’
Stay tuned!
— Rick The Ruler (@_Ricasso) September 23, 2021
Apparently, Rossas was the biggest factor in stopping that trade, as he didn’t want to give up D’Lo in any trade. But Minnesota’s brass is now open to letting him go. A trade could materialize in the next few weeks.
Simmons going to the Timberwolves would actually make them a sleeper team in the NBA. With Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards responsible for the offensive load, and Ben Simmons adding some much-needed defensive quality to the Wolves, they could become one of the most dangerous teams in the NBA overnight.
As for Philly, they’ll get a solid scorer in D’Lo who can shoot the ball, and they have other pieces in the team who can compensate for his defensive weaknesses. Whether this trade will happen remains to be seen.
