Could Sixers Revisit Simmons-For-Westbrook Trade With Lakers?

Ben Simmons, Russell Wesetbrook, Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, NBA Trade Rumors
NBA Analysis Network

The Los Angeles Lakers have experienced plenty of ups but more downs throughout the early goings of the 2021-22 NBA season. Part of this has been the Russell Westbrook experience meshing with the rest of the team.

There were genuine struggles from the Lakers when deploying DeAndre Jordan as a starting center. Anthony Davis simply has been a bad jump shooter since the NBA Bubble and pairing him with a non-shooting big man created all kinds of issues. With Westbrook at point guard, that was among the downsides.

The Lakers do not have a lot of options when it comes to changing up the roster around LeBron James.

Making a trade involving Anthony Davis is not going to happen. Meanwhile, it would be a challenge to find a suitor for Westbrook — let alone a helpful return.

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One option that has been floated around was the Philadelphia 76ers, who still need to trade Ben Simmons.

Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer mentioned on a recent podcast with Michael Scotto of HoopsHype that an outgoing call was made by the Lakers to discuss a Simmons trade but that’s not going to get a Simmons trade done.

“The only outgoing call I confirmed was to Philadelphia for Ben Simmons,” Fischer said, via Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. “When I got the information that they called about Ben, the conversation pretty much was, ‘We’re interested in Ben. How would we get there?’ The obvious solution is Russell Westbrook. He’s not a player on that Sixers list that they have.”

An intriguing part of the analysis from Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus about potential Russell Westbrook trade destinations involved the Philadelphia 76ers and Ben Simmons.

In all likelihood, the Lakers will end up keeping Westbrook. Still, perhaps the 76ers revisit an offer if they don’t find what they’re looking for elsewhere before the Feb. 10 deadline. 

At $33 million, Simmons doesn’t make quite enough for Westbrook in terms of salary-matching purposes. The Lakers have some interest in bringing back Danny Green, which would help relieve the Sixers’ additional tax burden in bringing on Westbrook.

Of course, Philadelphia doesn’t have to trade Simmons this season. The franchise would embrace closure, but not at the price of a bad deal. 

Perhaps it’s worth waiting until closer to the NBA trade deadline for the Los Angeles Lakers to see where the 76ers are at with the Simmons situation. If Westbrook is playing well and the fit is there, then no need to do anything. Otherwise, making a move of some sort could make sense.

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Keep in mind, Philadelphia sorely needs another difference-maker on the team since they are risking Joel Embiid having one of his prime years wasted with Simmons’ salary going toward nothing.

It still remains confusing as to why the Philadelphia 76ers would consider such a trade when considering they are high on Tyrese Maxey as a point guard option going forward. Adding Russell Westbrook would complicate the situation significantly.

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