Philadelphia 76ers: A disastrous ending to the Ben Simmons era
Ben Simmons has made it abundantly clear that he no longer will play for the Philadelphia 76ers. A trade seems to be on the horizon.
Tuesday afternoon, Ben Simmons finally made it official (via his mouthpiece). According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Simmons will not attend the Philadelphia 76ers‘ training camp that starts next week.
Furthermore, it was stated that Simmons attends to never play another game for the 76ers.
ESPN Sources: Philadelphia 76ers All-Star Ben Simmons will not report for opening of training camp next week and intends to never play another game for the franchise. Simmons hasn’t spoken to team since a late August meeting when he communicated this message to Sixers officials.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 21, 2021
What an absolute turn of events for both sides in this predicament. The rumors were swirling around all offseason long. But up until now, they were just that. Now the rumors have come to life and the next step for both parties is a breakup.
Ben Simmons has stated that he would prefer to be traded to a California team, which includes the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers, Golden State Warriors, and Sacramento Kings.
Realistically, there are only two teams out of the abovementioned four that I think have a real shot at landing Simmons. Those two would be the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings. Both of the Los Angeles teams don’t have enough to give away that Darryl Morey would be able to live with.
Golden State and Sacramento both have a mixture of veterans, young players, and draft capital to get a deal done. Golden State could throw in their rookies from this year’s draft, Andrew Wiggins and some draft picks creating an enticing package for the 76ers. The Kings are in the same boat as they could throw a mix of veteran and young talent and draft picks to offer for Simmons.
Another team that has had its name pop up in recent rumors to go after Simmons is the Houston Rockets. It’s funny how the Rockets’ name pops up once again in the Simmons trade rumors as they found themselves in a similar position last season. This time they don’t have James Harden to dangle out and would have to use a lot of draft picks to make a deal happen.
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The Simmons-Siders saga has gotten more interesting over the course of the last couple of days. The 2021-22 season is a month away and I’d assume the 76ers would like a deal done before the season starts. I’m not sure which one of these teams will bite first for Simmons, but after today this breakup is coming sooner rather than later.