Making the Case: Atlanta Hawks

There was a lot of interest in Ben Simmons from the Atlanta Hawks before he was traded by the Philadelphia 76ers to the Brooklyn Nets. Would they circle back on this idea?

There certainly are some pros and cons to the prospect of trading for Simmons from the Hawks’ perspective. If it were to pan out ideally, he’d help to cover up Trae Young’s underwhelming defense and would embrace a small-ball center role.

When the defense traps Young, the idea would be that he could give the ball up to Simmons as Stephen Curry does to Draymond Green in order to attack out of the short-roll. However, is Young ready to embrace being an off-ball mover like Curry?

Again, we don’t know if Simmons would even be content being a small-ball center where he’s beginning possessions off the ball as opposed to being the initiator of the half-court offense.

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If the Hawks feel Simmons would be open to such a possibility, there’d be real justification to consider such a trade.