How This Trade Impacts Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to Ben Simmons. His trade value is the lowest it has been in his career so that they will get pennies on the dollar in return packages. They are looking to find the best deal possible, but their options may be limited.
In return for Simmons, a young All-Star caliber player is a fair asking price, but even that isn’t met in this deal with the Dallas Mavericks. Tim Hardaway Jr., Maxi Kleber, and Jalen Brunson are all solid rotation players. They will improve the depth and overall rotation for the 76ers, but they would lack that true, go-to second star alongside Joel Embiid.
Doc Rivers would at least have a player to plug and play into the starting point guard spot in Brunson. In many proposed deals, Philadelphia is left without a player they can turn to as a starting point guard. Brunson has played well as Luka Doncic’s backup and could thrive in a starting role.
He would bring more offensive punch than Simmons, as he is an extremely efficient scorer. But he doesn’t bring nearly the same impact defensively. The 76ers will have a drop-off defensively without Simmons, but it would be drastic going from him to Brunson at the point of attack.
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Hardaway gives the 76ers another scoring threat on the wing as well. He has proven to be an excellent 3-point shooter and, at times, was Dallas’s second-best player alongside Doncic. He would improve the scoring on the second unit.
Kleber is a versatile frontcourt player that can fill both the power forward and center spots. He could play minutes alongside Joel Embiid or come off the bench alongside Andre Drummond.
The 76ers offense and depth are greatly improved with this deal, but it’s hard to imagine they can’t get a better package than this one. Even the pick swap isn’t overly enticing as it’s not an extra pick added, just the chance to possibly move up some spots in the first round.
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Simmons has his flaws, but at 25-years old with his resume, they should be able to get back a little more of an impact package than this one. Fans would assuredly be disappointed if they waited a few months, and this was the return they got for their All-Star.
