Indiana Pacers Are The “Sleeper Team” For Ben Simmons

We may never again see Ben Simmons in a Philadelphia 76ers’ jersey, but at the same time, there does not seem to be a trade on the horizon for him.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Toronto Raptors have all expressed interest in him over the last month, but the Philadelphia 76ers have been unwilling to come down on their asking price. Could this force them to revisit a potential trade with the Indiana Pacers? 

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst seems to think so, as the NBA Insider stated that the Indiana Pacers are  “the sleeper team in this whole situation” on ESPN’s The Jump. 

“I think the sleeper team in this whole situation is the Indiana Pacers. First off, I know that they don’t have an All-NBA  player to trade, I realized that, but they have a bunch of really good players… They know they’re never going to be a free agency destination, so when they trade for a guy like Victor Oladipo or they trade for a guy like Caris LeVert who has a bunch of years left, they like that. They love the idea of being able to trade for player like Ben Simmons, who they would have team control over. It makes a lot of sense, especially because with as much talent as they have and as much money as they’re spending, I still think they’re just in the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference, and they’ve got a premium coach now in Rick Carlisle.”

Windhorst brings up a really strong point about the Indiana Pacers being a possible destination for Ben Simmons because of the fact that they have all this talent and have not been able to progress with them.

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The Pacers are just under the tax line for this season and are well over the salary cap, yet they are still viewed as a middle-of-the-pack or low-end Eastern Conference team.