NBA Trade Rumors: Hawks are a dark horse landing spot for Ben Simmons?

NBA Trade Rumors: The Atlanta Hawks are a sleeper landing spot for Ben Simmons? 

For the past few weeks, it’s been quiet on the Ben Simmons trade front. However, according to a recent report, there’s one sleeper team that could emerge as a potential landing spot for the disgruntled all-star.

The team that could crash the Simmons sweepstakes has been revealed as the Atlanta Hawks, who have struggled mightily themselves so far this season.

At the moment, the Hawks are 17-20 and sitting in the 12th slot of the Eastern Conference. Considering their run to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, an argument could be made that they’ve been one of the more disappointing teams in the league.

The Hawks are an interesting potential landing spot for several reasons. For one, they have the assets that a team would need to land a talent such as Simmons – of course, that’s if the Sixers get to a point where they’d want to trade him. And secondly, the Hawks are the type of team that could probably benefit from a retooling.

That said, I don’t think this is to say that the Hawks are a definite team to watch as it pertains to a Simmons trade. It’s unlikely that the Sixers would willingly strengthen one of their direct competitors while weakening themselves – unless Trae Young would be part of the deal. That’s not happening.

It’s also important to note that it was also reported that the Sixers’ No. 1 preference is to still keep Simmons on the roster and for him to return to action at some point this season. At least for now, however, that still seems like a pipe dream. No matter how realistic or unrealistic a possible trade feels at the moment.

From all indications, it appears that the Simmons saga is going to drag into the next few weeks and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of it slowing down. At this point, it would be surprising if Simmons was traded by the NBA trade deadline.