Making the case for the 76ers to trade Ben Simmons

There is no denying that Ben Simmons should definitely take a lot of the blame for the 76ers’ collapse in the playoff this year. Offensively, he was close to non-existent at times for the Sixers and he did not really bring much to the table for them in terms of scoring. As an All-NBA and All-Star player, Simmons should be much better than he is offensively, yet he only averaged 11.9 points and 8.8 assists during the playoffs. 

Now, given his role with Philadelphia, this is not bad, but his free-throw shooting was exposed against the Hawks. He shot 15-45 (33.3%) from the free-throw line in this series and every time Atlanta wanted to slow the pace of the game down or limit what Philly was doing offensively, they would intentionally foul Simmons because they knew he would not make free-throws. 

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If you are the 76ers, why would you want a guy like this not only on the floor in the playoffs, but on your team that is supposed to contend for a championship? He is a complete liability right now and until he can prove that he is a factor on offense and not just defense, he is nothing more than a role player for the Philadelphia 76ers. 

For a guy that is being paid roughly $36M per year over the next four seasons, the 76ers expect him to be a franchise-altering player and someone they can lean on next to Joel Embiid, yet Ben Simmons is not and has not proven that he can be this kind of player. 

Grabbing rebounds and dishing out assists to put up a triple-double-like stat line is great, but not being able to shoot outside of the paint and not being able to make free-throws basically means that the 76ers are playing 4-on-5 when they have the ball on offense, especially in the playoffs. 

Trading Ben Simmons this offseason could not only open things up financially for the Philadelphia 76ers, but it would give them the ability to actually add a player that can do more for this team than just on the defensive-end of the court. 

READ MORE: NBA Rumors: Ben Simmons trade value is ‘plummeting’ with poor playoff showing

Ben Simmons is 7-feet tall and handles the ball as well as any other point guard in this league, but guys like Kyle Lowry, C.J. McCollum and even someone like Mike Conley would be better fits for this team given the production that they would give the 76ers on offense. 

If the 76ers were to trade Ben Simmons, they could not only potentially add a player like C.J. McCollum to their roster if they were to trade Simmons to Portland, but they could also add some role players and potentially some draft picks as well that they could then turn around and trade for more talent to add to their roster. 

Not to mention, with Simmons’ contract being over $30M per season, the 76ers would be able to create a pretty valuable trade exception that they could then use at some point during the 2021-22 season in order to add even more talent to what will be a championship-contending roster yet again.

Right now, it seems like making the case to trade Ben Simmons is definitely easy, which does not mean good news for Simmons’ future in Philadelphia.