The Best of the Rest?
Other than putting Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum in a trade package for Ben Simmons, the Portland Trail Blazers do not have much else to offer up that would be of value to the Philadelphia 76ers.
Norman Powell obviously is not up for discussion after recently signing a five-year, $90M deal that Philly most likely would not want to take on. Since they have Joel Embiid, Jusef Nurkic really is not as valuable as he would be to other teams on the trade market.
Robert Covington and Anfernee Simons could be of value to the 76ers, but again, in a trade for Ben Simmons, the Portland Trail Blazers would not convince Philly to give up their All-Star for role players. If Covington and Simons were the two guys outside of Dame and McCollum that were to be traded to acquire Ben Simmons, then a third or fourth team would have to be involved in getting the 76ers what they want.
Seeing as not many All-Star talents are available right now and Bradley Beal is almost certainly off-the-table for Philadelphia, their options are very slim in what they can acquire in a Ben Simmons trade.
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Jason Dumas of KRON4 News reported back in July about the Sixers turning down an offer from Indiana that included Malcolm Brogdon and a first-round pick, so a guy like Brogdon could be available, but what about guys like Brandon Ingram (Pelicans), Pascal Siakam (Raptors) and maybe even Andrew Wiggins (Warriors)?
Are these equal enough assets to what Ben Simmons’s value is for the 76ers to make a three or four-team deal happen if the 76ers were to get one of these four guys in return? This remains the unsolved question, and with training camps set to begin at the end of the month, the Sixers are running out of time to keep Simmons’ value as high as it may be.
He is definitely a valuable All-Star in this league and still has potential to grow, but the longer the 76ers wait, it could really wind up hurting them greatly. At the same time, if the 76ers rush to get a deal done, they could be taking their chances of winning a title away by not getting what they need.
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This will be a tough issue for the Philadelphia 76ers to sort out, but they should ultimately still have Damian Lillard at the top of their list. He is the key next to Joel Embiid for this franchise, but if they cannot get him, the Sixers may be in trouble.
Keeping Ben Simmons to begin the season is not necessarily a terrible idea, but many relationship mending would need to happen. Otherwise, he would be “dead weight” in a sense on their roster.
Finding the right trade with the Portland Trail Blazers is definitely doable for both teams. Still, at the end of the day, it is tough to see Ben Simmons going to Portland unless the 76ers are receiving either Damian Lillard or C.J. McCollum in return.
