Los Angeles Clippers Receive: G/F Ben Simmons
Philadelphia 76ers Receive: G Eric Bledsoe, F OG Anunoby, G Keon Johnson, LAC 2023 2nd Round Pick, LAC 2025 2nd Round Pick, LAC 2027 1st Round Pick
Oklahoma City Thunder Receive: G Luke Kennard, LAC 2022 2nd Round Pick, LAC 2024 2nd Round Pick, LAC 2028 2nd Round Pick
Toronto Raptors Receive: C Ivica Zubac, F Darius Bazley
Seeing as the Philadelphia 76ers have stated that they want an All-Star-level talent in return for Ben Simmons, a trade involving them getting Bledsoe, Anunoby, Johnson and a handful of not really valuable draft picks is definitely less value than their asking price. However, the money aligns here and both Bledsoe and Anunoby could contribute right away to the 76ers championship efforts.
As for getting Simmons to a new team and his interest in California, the 3x All-Star recently purchased a $17.5M mansion in Los Angeles’ Hidden Hills neighborhood over the summer. Maybe this is just to have a house in California, but who spends close to $20M on a place that is on the opposite side of the country from where you work?
Ben Simmons obviously wants to be out in the Los Angeles area or at least on the West Coast, so a trade to the LA Clippers could be something that interests him a lot. With Kawhi Leonard out, the Clippers are going to struggle early on in the season with just Paul George, which is why going “all-in” on winning a championship and bringing in Ben Simmons would be deadly.
They would have three All-Stars, three great two-way players and still have key talents in Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris Sr., and Nicolas Batum to fill out their rotations, so trading for Ben Simmons would be the best move the LA Clippers could possibly make, even if it would cause them to give up all their draft capital that is left and some key talents on their roster.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Everything To Know About Latest Ben Simmons NBA Trade Rumors
As mentioned earlier though, the biggest “catch” to making this deal is the other teams involved. Who knows if the Thunder and Raptors would even want to get involved and each team probably would not want to give up a high-level, young talent that they have spent time developing, so getting Ben Simmons is definitely not a smooth road for the LA Clippers like it could be for a team like the Timberwolves, Kings or Spurs who have the assets to be able to put together a lucrative offer for the 76ers.
In terms of this trade though, the Raptors would be able to finally build with a young center in Ivica Zubac and they would have a key building block in Darius Bazley, whose contract would get absorbed into their $4.8M TPE from trading Kyle Lowry to the Miami Heat this offseason in a sign-and-trade deal. For the Thunder, Luke Kennard’s $12.7M contract would get absorbed into their $12.8M TPE from trading Trevor Ariza to the Miami Heat last season.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Everything To Know About Latest Ben Simmons NBA Trade Rumors
The money does work in this trade, hence why it is something we can talk about, but as we will see in the next section, this is not really something we should count on the Raptors and Thunder wanting to be a part of. Not to mention, the 76ers may not really want anything to do with Bledsoe and second-round picks either in a trade involving Ben Simmons.
